People are becoming more interested in the calorie content of the beverages they drink. But surprisingly, the calories and other macro-nutrients in wine arw seldom shown on the wine bottle labels. This may change in the near future with several countries adopting voluntary nutrition labels for wines.
The calories in white wine can vary depending on the variety, the alcohol content, and the amount of sugar and carbohydrates contained in the wines. Sweeter wines and ones with higher alcohol contents have more calories.
A standard drink of an alcoholic beverage contains about 14 grams of pure alcohol (about 0.6 fluid oz or 1.2 tablespoons). However this varies between countries. Pure alcohol contains 7 cals/g, which is about twice the calories in one gram of protein or carbohydrate (4 cals/g).
However the calories in alcohol is less than half the calories in fat (9 cals/g). A standard drink in some countries contains 14 g of pure alcohol, and so contains about 100 calories due to the alcohol itself. The other ingredients in the drink will add to these calories.
There are about 10 grams (12 ml) of alcohol in an average glass of wine which contains about 65-80 calories. The rest of the calories in wines are mostly in the carbohydrates and sugar ieft when ther wine is processed or added for flavor.
White wine contains slightly less calories than red wine because there is less residual sugar. Red wine contains about 69 Calories (283 kilojoules) per 100 ml compared with 65 calories (270 kilojoules) for a medium-dry white wine.
Fortified wines such as ports contain the most calories at 160 calories for 100ml serve.
There is considerable variation in the amount number of calories in different styles and varieties of white wine, especially related to their sweetness and alcohol content.
This article discusses these differences and includes a wine calorie chart that will help you choose wines based on calories.
There are about 65 calories in 100ml of grape juice and about the same amount on white wine. Consequently the conversion of a large proportion of the sugars in the wine into alcohol does not change things very much.
The yeast added to the grape juice generates alcohol as a waste product of its metabolism.
The variation in calorie content for the same volume of wine is primarily due to the residual sugar and carbohydrate left in the wine after it has fermented.
Similarly, some wines have highly percentages of alcohol and this adds to the calories.
The table below summaries the calories in a standard serving of 100ml.
It also includes calories for common foods as a comparison.
The key points are:
The amount of carbohydrate in wines is not necessarily a sign of the calories in the wine because the alcohol contents vary so much.
Dessert wines have about 17g of carbs per 100 ml, and the high carbs doubles the number of calories.
However, Riesling, Vigonier and Chardonnay all have 120 calories, but they have 5g, 1g and 2g of carbohydrate respectively.
For comparisons purpose the following summary compares shows the calorie equivalents of common foods:
The following snacks are all equivalent to about 3 glasses of White Wine
One McDonald's Burger is equivalent to the number of calories in One Bottle of Wine
The table below shows that wine is one of the lowest beverage in terms of calories
Type of Beverage
|
Average Serving
|
Calories
|
---|---|---|
Vodka with soda (40%)
|
30ml spirit plus 150ml soda
|
64
|
White wine (11.5%)
|
150ml
|
100
|
Sparkling wine (11.5%)
|
150ml
|
100
|
Red wine (13.5%)
|
150ml
|
110
|
Full-strength beer (4.8%)
|
425ml
|
155
|
Gin and tonic (4.5%)
|
30ml spirit plus 250 ml tonic
|
200
|
Rum and cola (4.6%)
|
375ml can
|
248
|
Premix gin and tonic (4.5%)
|
375 ml can
|
320
|
Pina Colada (13%)
|
150ml
|
400
|
Popular Types of White Wine Serving 100g 1 glass
|
Calories
|
---|---|
Wine, Non-alcoholic Wine
|
10
|
Lambrini Bianco M/Dry
|
55
|
Light alcohol dry White wine
|
65
|
White Wine - Dry
|
66
|
Rose Wine
|
71
|
Light alcohol sweet White wine
|
71
|
Rose
|
73
|
Dry White
|
74
|
White Wine - Medium
|
74
|
White Wine - Sparkling
|
74
|
Pinot Grigio
|
75
|
Champagne - Dry
|
76
|
Chenin Blanc
|
78
|
Riesling
|
78
|
Gewurztraminer
|
79
|
Sauvignon Blanc
|
79
|
White Wine
|
81
|
Semillon
|
81
|
Riesling
|
81
|
Pinot Gris / Pinot Grigio
|
82
|
Sauvignon Blanc Wine
|
82
|
Muscat
|
82
|
Sauvignon Blanc
|
83
|
White Table Wine
|
83
|
Medium White
|
85
|
White Zinfandel
|
85
|
Champagne
|
86
|
Brut Champagne
|
86
|
Sparkling Wine
|
89
|
Port
|
90
|
High alcohol dry White wine
|
90
|
Riesling
|
90
|
Chardonnay
|
90
|
Doux Champagne
|
90
|
Gewurztraminer
|
90
|
Vigonier
|
90
|
Champagne
|
93
|
Chardonnay
|
95
|
Riesling, chardonnay
|
95
|
Martini Extra Dry
|
96
|
Sauternes
|
100
|
High alcohol dry Red wine
|
102
|
Vermouth, Dry
|
108
|
High alcohol sweet White wine
|
113
|
Sweet white
|
113
|
Sweet Dessert Wine
|
124
|
Martini Bianco
|
145
|
Dry sherry
|
150
|
Vermouth, Sweet
|
152
|
Sake wine
|
160
|
Port
|
160
|
Dessert wine
|
163
|
Sweet Dessert Wine
|
165
|
Mulled wine
|
200
|
FOODS for Comparison
|
|
Spirits - Gin, Rum, Vodka, Whiskey
|
220
|
1 Chokito bar (60g)
|
275
|
1 Cadbury Dream bar (50g)
|
280
|
Chocolate Fruit and Nut bar (55g)
|
280
|
Apple crumble (200g)
|
280
|
Apple pie (100g)
|
285
|
1 McDonald's strawberry sundae
|
280
|
Subway six-inch ham, roast beef sub
|
282
|
1 Bottle of wine
|
560
|
1 McDonald's Burger
|
566
|
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