How Many Calories in Wine
Whether you’re a glass half full or glass completely full kind of person, it can be handy to be aware of how many calories are in that measure. This guide to calories in wine is for the wine lovers who like to know all the juicy details about what’s in their glass.
Where do calories in wine come from?
To make alcohol, you need sugar. To put it simply, winemakers use the naturally occurring sugar in grapes to turn juice into wine. The process is called fermentation, and it involves heating up grape juice and adding in some yeast to trigger a reaction that transforms the glucose into alcohol and carbon dioxide.
Alcohol contains seven calories per gram, so a wine with a higher ABV will also be higher in calories. The other key part of wine that contains calories is the residual sugar, which is whatever natural sugar from the fruit has made it through fermentation without being turned into alcohol. Residual sugar in wine is around four calories per gram.
Based on this logic, a sweet tasting wine doesn’t necessarily equate to more calories. For instance, a dry red wine with a high alcohol content is likely to have more calories than a sweet wine with a lower amount of alcohol.
Dry styles of non-alcoholic and low alcohol wines tend to have fewer calories due to the lack of alcohol.
Cooking with wine causes alcohol to burn off, however this doesn’t reduce the calories in the wine as much as you’d like to think it does. One of those annoying things, we’re afraid!
How many calories are in a glass of wine?
Most of us free pour when enjoying wine at home and pay absolutely no attention to precise measures. But we all know that when we’re out and about most bars and restaurants serve wine in measures.
A small measure of wine is 125ml, a medium serving is 175ml, and a large is 250ml. For sparkling wine, you’ll generally be offered a large pour of 150ml, although some wine menus will also offer a small serving of 125ml.
Different wine styles contain different levels of residual sugar due to the winemaking methods used and the type of grapes that were harvested to make the wine, so there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to calories in wine. We’ve outlined approximately how many calories are in each different style of wine below.
Red Wine
A small glass of dry red wine is around 85 calories, a medium measure is more like 133 calories, and a large pour is 211 calories.
Being higher in ABV than white wine, red wine is slightly higher in calories across the board, especially if it’s a full-bodied red made in a warm climate, for example an Aussie Shiraz or Chilean Malbec. Warmer vineyards create more concentrated grapes, which means more glucose to convert into alcohol.
Dried or partially dried grapes will be even higher in natural sugar than grapes harvested when they’re plump, so sweet red wines contain even more alcohol, more residual sugar, and more calories than dry reds.
White Wine
A small serving of dry white wine such as Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc is around 85 calories, a medium measure is more like 131 calories, and a large glass is 208 calories.
Of course, a white wine made with dried or partially dried grapes (for example a late harvest Riesling) will once again be different due to the higher amount of sugar in the grapes.
Rosé Wine
Styles of rosé vary hugely from dry and delicate to super sweet, but a general guide to stick to for popular styles you’ll find in a restaurant is that a small serving is around 99 calories, a medium glass is about 138 calories, and a large serving is more like 198 calories.
Sparkling Wine
Sparkling wine is usually a generous serving at any bar, and you can expect to receive a large measure of 150ml if you order a glass of bubbly, which equates to about 101 calories. In some restaurants and wine bars, you’ll find smaller measures of 125ml available, which will be more like 90 calories worth of fizz in your flute.
Fortified Wine
With fortified wines being so much higher in alcohol content than other styles of wine, we only ever drink it in small amounts. In a bar or restaurant after a large meal, a bartender or waiter will pour you 75ml, which is around 120 calories for a glass of port or cream sherry. Dry sherry is lower in residual sugar, so a 75ml pour of that is more like 90 calories.
How many calories are in a bottle of wine?
Naturally the amount of calories in a bottle of wine will vary depending on the type. A standard bottle of wine will pour three 250ml glasses, just over four 175ml glasses, or exactly five 150ml glasses.
If you follow our guide for how many calories there are in a 250ml glass, you simply need to multiply that by three and it’ll give you number of calories for the bottle.
A bottle of sparkling wine will give you five 150ml flutes of fizz, so the approximate number of calories for one 150ml flute needs to be multiplied by five.
