The best wine for weight loss is dry wine like Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, and Merlot or a dry sparkling white wine. Sweet wines have significantly higher calorie and carb counts, which can leave you struggling to reach your healthy goals. Here's a quick reference guide for wine calorie and carbohydrate counts.
As a rule of thumb, white wines tend to be lower in calories than reds. Also, make sure your wine has a lower alcohol by volume (ABV) percentage, ideally of 11% or less. The higher the ABV, the higher the calorie count. Check out the chart below to see how your favorite wine stacks up.
Pinot Noir is rated as the healthiest wine because of the high levels of resveratrol. It is made of grapes with thin skin, has low sugar, fewer calories, and low alcohol content. Sagrantino made in Italy contains the highest concentration of antioxidants and is packed with tannins.
Good to know: When looking for low-carb wine, always opt for dry wine. There are many dry red wines, white wines, rosé wines, and sparkling wines, including Usual Wines, which have zero grams of sugar. 0g sugar, nothing artificial, and a perfect by-the-glass bottle for a fresh glass, every time.
Extra brut is the driest type of wine, which means that it contains less sugar. Prosecco, Champagne, and Cava generally contain 2 or 3 carbs per glass, making them great options if you're trying to follow a low carb diet.
Sauvignon Blanc
Dry wines are the lowest in carbohydrates, and this refreshing white is one of the driest and crispest around.
The lowest-calorie alcohol is vodka, which only has 100 calories in a 50-millimeter shot. Other alcohols among those with the lowest calories are whisky, gin, and tequila, which all have about 110 calories per shot. According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, alcohol is basically empty calories.
Red wine has the highest caloric content of all wine varieties, with an average of 125 calories per serving. Rose and sparkling wines contain the least calories, with 90 to 100 calories per 5 ounces. Wine benefits health if consumed in moderation and the appropriate servings.
The calories in 175ml of white wine come in at 142 calories, on average. Red wine comes in at a similar measure of 148 calories per large glass, and rosé contains the least amount of calories at 138.
Wine in Moderation
Drinking wine in excess of your daily calorie needs will not help you beat the belly bulge; however, drinking a moderate amount of wine could actually help you whittle down your waistline.
"Clear liquors like vodka, tequila, and gin are lowest in sugar and calories and are easiest for our bodies to metabolize," Kober says.
Chardonnay (White)
If you want a low-calorie wine, a chardonnay is generally a good choice with about 123 calories and three carbs in a five-ounce serving.
Dry wines, such as pinot noir, chardonnay, and brut Champagne, average 1 to 3 grams of sugar per 5 ounce pour. Sweeter wines, such as a riesling or zinfandel, can contain anywhere from 6 to 14 grams of sugar per 5 ounces.
Per our Maker wine terms glossary, grape juice becomes wine when all the natural sugars from the fruit are “eaten up” by yeast and converted to alcohol and C02 through a process called fermentation. In a dry wine, fermentation has been allowed to complete fully, and there is no residual sugar left in the wine.
1. Sauvignon Blanc - This classic wine has the lowest sugar of all of the dry white wines. It comes in at around 3.75g of sugar per bottle and 0.75g of sugar per glass. Depending on how low you are trying to stay, you might be able to fit in two glasses!
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.
If you're concerned about your sugar intake, but don't want to give up wine, you're in luck. Wine, namely dry table wine and brut bubbly, are widely considered all-clear for low-sugar diets. In fact, the majority of wines, beers and spirits contain little to no sugar.