Low Calorie Wine

For a 3.5oz glass of wine, which is what many consider 'one glass', the alcohol provides around 80 calories. The calories in a glass of wine come solely from the alcohol in the wine. There are only trace amounts of protein in the wine, 0 grams of fat, and 0.0 grams of saturated fats.

Therefore, if you want a low calorie wine, you want a low proof wine. Calories in wine are directly related to the alcohol content. You simply take the percentage of alcohol, multiply times the # of ounces you drink, and multiply that times 1.6. Simple. So a 5% alcohol wine, in a 5 oz serving, means 1.6 x 5 x 5 = 40 calories.

If you're actually able to find a wine down around 1% alcohol - i.e. the ones they market at "close to no alcohol" - you take 1.6 x 5 x 1 = 8 calories.

Therefore if you drink a wine that is higher percentage alcohol, you get more calories. If you drink a wine that is lower percentage of alcohol, you'll get fewer calories. Go through your wine shop and check out the percent alcohol on the wine bottles. If you find a heavy red zin, it might be up around 14% alcohol. If you find a light pinot grigio, it might be down around 7% alcohol. That's half the calories!

If you are dieting, be sure to read about Wine and Calories - How Wine is Metabolized. Wine is actually VERY unlikely to get turned into fat. However, if you drink a *high alcohol* wine, that alcohol will get used by the body as energy first, before it decides to start using your fat cells. It does that at a rate of 7 calories/gram.

These are all generalizations, though. The true amount of calories in a glass of wine varies from wine to wine. If you want more details, learn how do you determine the caloric content of wine.

Note: A great deal of research and work went into my wine / health pages. If you use this information, please credit me properly. Thanks!

Wine and Health