There’s No Need To Skimp On Flavor With Low
With all the information about the health dangers of consuming too much sugar, it’s no surprise that opting for low-sugar wine is the way to go. Fortunately, you don’t have to give up your favorite glass of wine because you’re watching your sugar intake you simply need to be mindful about where your wine comes from and how it’s made.
Whether you prefer red, white, or rosé wine, you have options that can align with your low-carb lifestyle and help you maintain your health goals every sip of the way.
How Alcohol Acts In Your Body
Think of alcohol as a barrel of monkeys. In your everyday life, you enjoy drinking your morning coffee, eating a healthy salad, and finishing the day with a well-balanced dinner. Your body knows exactly what to do with these things. The carbs, protein, and fat are filed away like animals into a corral.
Ok, we have some muscle damage, well lets send this steak protein over there for processing. Oh, we need some quick energy to run to catch the train, better process this sugar on the double!
Your body works like a well-oiled machine. Until the monkeys arrive. As you drink your alcohol, its like someone shook, rolled, and then broke open the barrel of monkeys. Now you have mischievous little critters running all around wreaking havoc and your body says, Woah! Who let this craziness in here? We better get this cleaned up before we do anything else!
Because alcohol is technically a toxin, your body stops everything its doing to collect and process the alcohol. Unlike carbs, protein, and fat, your body refuses to store alcohol, which means it has to burn it right away.
While your body is dealing with the crazed monkeys, the other nutrients in your body are pushed to the side and stored for later.
Wild Life Botanicals Nude 75cl
Wild Life Botanicals Nude 75cl
Calories: 31 per glass | ABV: 0.5% | Price: £15 per bottle
Only 0.5% alcohol but 100% delicious. We were really impressed with the complex flavour of this ultra-low alcohol sparkling wine. Its a fantastic low calorie alternative to champagne and ideal for enjoying with brunch or even a low calorie breakfast.
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Guillaume Aurele Pinot Noir
DrinkWell are excited to welcome this new skinny Pinot Noir to our range – not least because it contains zero sugar! This soft, fruity Pinot Noir is from the Alma Cersius cooperative in southern France, which has 1200 hectares of vineyards situated in three villages to the south of the city of Beziers. With notes of morello cherry and violets, and ripe raspberry fruit on the palate, this 13.5%ABV Pinot Noir is vegan friendly and contains just 92 calories per 125ml. You can purchase Guillaume Aurele Pinot Noir from the DrinkWell website for £11.99 per bottle.
Terms That Show A Wine Is High In Carbs
If you are counting your carbs, make sure the wine you purchase is dry. Avoid words on the label such as:
- off-dry
- semi-sec
- demi-sec
All wines labeled with these terms have a high residual sugar content that pumps up the carb count of the wines. If a wine tastes naturally sweet, it is high in residual sugar and thus carbs.
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What Should I Look For
If youre on a low-sugar diet or simply trying to keep your sugar consumption low, the good news is, wine isnt completely off the table for you. Our advice is to look fordry wines with low residual sugar. Drinking in moderation is also a great way to reduce your sugar intake.
Unfortunately, wineries are not legally required to list sugar content on their bottles, so you have to rely on wine knowledge to steer you in the right, less sugary direction.
How Is Low Alcohol Wine Made
Alcohol in wine is produced via fermentation. As the wine ferments, the added yeast creates a chemical reaction, converting the grape sugars into ethanol and carbon dioxide, thus producing alcohol.
Because sugar is such a critical component to creating alcohol, grapes with naturally lower sugar content are lower in alcohol. If you are looking for wine that is a bit less boozy, seek out dryer wines with less naturally occurring sugars.
Many factors can affect a wines sugar levels. For instance, certain wine grapes are naturally higher in sugar than others. Other factors include when the grapes are harvested the riper the grape gets, the higher its sugar levels will be.
Wine regions with cooler climates often produce wines with lower sugar levels and lower alcohol content. This is why an American Riesling has a higher alcohol content than one produced in Alsace, France. If you are trying to reduce your alcohol intake, try seeking out wines produced in New Zealand, Germany, and Northern France.
While some low alcohol wine is made like any other wine, some winemakers have found ways to chemically remove alcohol from their wine. The process is called reverse osmosis and involves machinery which separates the water and alcohol from the wine and pumps it out.
The wines produced via reverse osmosis can be very low in alcohol, or even alcohol-free. However, if you prefer naturally produced wines , learning which wines are naturally lower in alcohol is the way to go.
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Le Grande Verre Sauvignon Blanc
The beauty of Le Grand Verre, which just launched in the U.S., is that its diverse collection of wines come in adorable single-serving bottles that contain a 6.3-ounce pour. Not only are they convenient for transporting to picnics, parties and getaways, but its also far easier to monitor how much youre imbibing. And if youre on the indecisive side, you can sample a few different varietals without having to worry about finishing an entire bottle.
All of Le Grand Verres wines are sustainably made with zero pesticides, and theyre naturally low in sugar . Fan favorites include the organic-certified 2019 Château Val DArenc rosé blend and the 2019 Château Peyredon, a vegan blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. For happy hour sipping, try the 2019 Domaine Prataviera, which comes from a female winemaker. With lip-smacking acidity and flavors of lush tropical fruits, its the perfect food-friendly wine to wash down oysters, shrimp cocktail and other apps.
Courtesy of Dry Farm Wines.
Cupcake Lighthearted Pinot Grigio
California-based Cupcake Vineyards is well-known for producing award-winning wines from established regions at surprisingly reasonable prices. In 2020, the company introduced Cupcake Lighthearted, a collection of low-calorie, low-carb wines with less than one gram of sugar per five-ounce serving. The collection has a little something for everyone, including chardonnay, pinot noir, pinot grigio, sauvignon blanc and rosé.
For me, the Pinot Grigio was love at first sip. With zesty lemon notes and a clean finish, its a food-friendly wine you can enjoy anytime. Better yet, thanks to the modest alcohol volume of 8 percent, you wont wake up with a headache after downing a couple of glasses.
Courtesy of FitVine.
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And These Types Of Wine Have The Most Sugar
Clocking in at seven to nine percent residual sugar, it’s no surprise that dessert wines tend to have the highest sugar content of any wines, says Largeman-Roth.
For context, while a five-ounce glass of Chardonnay has just one gram of sugar, five ounces of Port contains around 12.
The following wines tend to have the most sugar:
- Whites like Riesling, Gewürztraminer and Chenin Blanc
- Reds like Cabernet, Zinfandel and Grenache
- Sweet sparking wines, which range from 17 to 50 grams per liter: Sec, Demi-Sec,and Doux
- Dessert wines, which pack around eight grams per five ounces: Port, Sauternes, and Tokaji
Calories In Ros Or Blush Wine
Rosé and blush wines, which come in delicate shades of pink, are particularly popular when the temperatures outside are steamy.
Rosé wines can be produced from just about any red wine grape, per the Wine Institute. The pale color comes from only allowing the red or black grape skins brief contact with the clear juice during production.
A standard 5-ounce glass of rosé wine contains 126 calories, per the USDA. This sweet wine has 5.8 grams of sugar, which is far more than other wines .
Recommended Servings
There are some health benefits to drinking wine. However, moderation is key: For people assigned male at birth, drinking in moderation amounts to 2 drinks or less per day, and for people assigned female at birth, its 1 drink or less, per the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
And keep the size of your pour in mind: For wine, the National Institutes of Health defines a serving as 5 ounces. If youre not measuring out ounces, its easy to exceed that amount.
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What Colour Wine Has The Lowest Sugar Content
Generally speaking, red wine has the lowest sugar content, with an average of around 0.9g per serving. White wines will usually have around 1.4g of sugar per serving, although this varies by type. Given its sweet nature, it will come as no surprise to learn that a glass of rose could include a huge 21g to 72g of sugar.
However, you shouldnt base your choice purely on sugar content. There are many other factors to consider when evaluating the health implications of different wines. Take red wine, for example. Whilst it may have the lowest sugar content, red wines tend to have a higher overall calorie content than other wines, partly due to its higher alcohol content. Its best to understand the whole picture when determining which wine is right for your needs.
But Why Is Sugar Added To Wine
Some winemakers need to add the White Stuff when they use under-ripe grapes to make their wine not to make wine more sweet, but to enable yeasts to produce more alcohol . This process is called chaptalization, where cane or beet sugar is added to the crushed grapes before the grapes ferment in order to increase the alcohol by volume of the final wine.
So, more sugar content in wine = more alcohol by volume.
Chaptalization is illegal in some countries or states in the US where they can routinely grow grapes with naturally occurring higher sugar content. Chaptalization is not allowed in:
- Argentina
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What Is Residual Sugar And Why Is It In Wine
Wine is a fermented beverage and begins of course with a base of grapes, which are naturally high in carbohydrates due to their sugar content . During the fermentation process, the yeast eats the sugar, and produces alcohol, heat and CO2 . Any leftover natural sugar creates the overall carbohydrate content of the wine. Sweet wines, such as Port or dessert wines, have a high carbohydrate content. The sweeter the wine , the higher the carbohydrates. But dry wines, with little or no residual sugar, have lower carbs. These wines that are fully fermented, where virtually all sugars are consumed, have the lowest carbohydrate count. There are some sweet wines that have added sugar, or dosage that causes secondary fermentation in the bottle such as in a sparkling wine, but most of the sugar content in a wine is residual sugar. For the driest sparkling wine options, look for wines that are marked brut or extra brut.
Ben Ami Wines Cabernet Sauvignon
Amount Of Sugar: 3.3 g/L
Price: $15.30
Cab Sauv is a popular type of red wine and this one comes to us straight from Israel. It has a low amount of sugar at just 3.3 g/L while the alcohol content is high at 13.3%. You’ll find a woody taste with this wine that goes great with any kind of meat dish or a good sandwich at lunch.
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Are The Calories In Wine Fattening
Counting calories in wine can be a challenge.
But you can zoom in on them easily by using a couple of calculators on this page. One figures out the calories in alcohol. And the other calculates the sugar level.
If you add the calculations together, you get the total calories in that wine.
There are also some tables below showing the calories in 750ml bottles of wine, as well as 5 ounce glasses of wine.
Is There A Lot Of Sugar In Non
One of the biggest misconceptions about non-alcoholic wine is that it is full of sugar. This is probably a hangover from the times when non-alcoholic wine was essentially grape juice. New, modern non-alcoholic wines tend to be de-alcoholised, which means that they have the same taste, aroma and mouthfeel as traditional wine without the calories. Non-alcoholic wine also tends to be lower in sugar.
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The Best Low Calorie Wine You Can Enjoy On A Diet
Enjoy our fantastic selection of low calorie wine. We have included our favourite red, white, rosé, and prosecco low cal options.
Calories in wine come in two guises. Those in the alcohol: each gram of alcohol contains seven calories. And those in the sugar thats either a leftover from the fermentation process or in the case of some wines, such as champagne, added after to give the wine a sweeter flavour.
Some wines are very calorific, so even just a few glasses soon add up. One standard-sized glass of wine typically contains about 130 calories. The NHS website points out that drinking four bottles of wine a month adds up to a yearly consumption of around 27,000kcal, which is equivalent to eating 48 Big Macs per year.
Establishing the calories that are in a glass can be tricky as this information is not often easy to find out. Unlike food, wine doesnt always have nutritional information displayed on the packaging. So like our low calorie beer collection, we have rounded up some of the best low calorie wine available to buy online
Defining Sugar Free Wine
There are many reasons to choose sugar free wines, including the hope for fewer headaches and less weight gain. Weve got the lowdown on the role sugar plays in wine and a list of our top sugar free wines. Whether youre looking to simply feel better the next day, or on a mission to lose weight while still enjoying a few glasses of wine each week, choosing sugar free wines may be the answer.
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Which Wine Has The Most Sugar
It may seem obvious, but its worth repeating, dessert wine is very high in sugar. For example, a nice snifter of Port has 100 grams of residual sugar. Port and other dessert wines should be avoided by anyone trying to limit their sugar intake.
While Port being high in sugar may not come as much of a surprise , sometimes a wines sugar level does not match its sweetness. All wine contains naturally occurring acids. These acids help to balance the sweetness of the wine, meaning the sugars are not often detectable on the palate. In fact, even the most practiced wine tasters would struggle to tell you how much residual sugar is in a glass on a blind test.
So what this means is wines that dont taste sweet in the slightest can still be considered high-sugar wines. For instance, certain bottles of Australian Shiraz, a generally dry wine, have over 12 grams of sugar per glass.
Cheaper, mass-produced wines are known to be higher in residual sugars. These cheaper wineries often utilize tricks such as adding artificial acids to help balance overly sweet wines, or adding in artificial sugars to add balance to overly sour grapes.
If you are wanting to lower your sugar intake, opt for wines made in small, high-quality wineries that dont intervene with the natural process of the grapes. Make sure they focus on traditional winemaking techniques.
Tesco Finest Premier Cru Brut Champagne
Tesco Finest Premier Cru Brut Champagne
Calories: 86 per glass | ABV: 12.5% | Price: £20 per bottle
For a grand celebration, it has to be Champagne. When choosing low-calorie champagne look out for the Brut, Extra Brut and Brut Nature varieties. This categorisation means that these wines and drier and lower in sugar, usually under 2g of sugar per glass.
La Gioiosa Prosecco
Calories: 79 per glass | ABV: 11% | Price: £13.99 per bottle
A lovely fizz to enjoy with a summers meal or even use it as a great way to reduce the calories in a spritz. A glass of this sparkling wine is just 79 calories and 0.8g of sugar. Perfect served with seafood or fish.
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Will Drinking A Glass Of Wine Take You Out Of Ketosis
From an article in Elite Daily: According to Atkins nutritionist Colette Heimowitz, drinking alcohol isnt going to stop ketosis altogether: The liver can make ketones out of alcohol, she tells Elite Daily. So technically, when you drink, youll continue to produce ketones and will remain in ketosis. In other words, having one glass of wine isnt going to erase all the progress your bodys made in its transition. It will, however, take things down a notch.
So whats a Keto wine lover to do? Drink dry wine that is fully fermented, with little to no residual sugar. The standard definition of sugar free wine is anything that is statistically sugar free, at 1 g/l or less residual sugar. Our sugar free wines have anywhere from .1-1 g/l residual sugar and .015-.15 carbs per 5oz serving. While saying they are carb free is pushing the definition, these come as close as you can get.
We use the following calculation to find the amount of carbs in a glass of wine:
Sugar Content X Volume / 1000 / 5 = Grams of Carbohydrate in a 5 oz glass of wine.
