There’s nothing like pouring yourself a glass of vino after a long, hard, and stressful day at work.
Those first sips of that tipple just send you into relaxation mode, though I must say I prefer mine with a hot bubble bath and some nice scented candles.
Every Friday, come 5 pm it’s basically my tradition – don’t even try speaking to me until I’ve celebrated the arrival of the weekend with an hour of relaxation.
However, recently, I’ve also started trying to think more about my health. That’s involved purchasing a whole lot of gym wear, for the most part saying goodbye to my caloric favorite treats, and exercising a whole lot more.
And it really got me thinking about what is actually in my wine. How many liquid calories was I actually consuming a night, and how much sugar was in each glass?
So, I took to the world wide web to find my answers, and I must say I was a little surprised. And so I thought I’d share my findings.
In this article, we’ll go over how much sugar is in different types of wine and which are the better options to swap to if, like me, you can’t quite cut that grapey goodness out of your life completely.
Why Is Sugar Added To Wine?
You may think that sugar is added to wine to make it taste better and sweeter, but often, this actually isn’t the case. Sugar can be added to wine as it allows yeast to produce more alcohol.
This process is referred to as chaptalization. Essentially, the more sugar in your wine, the higher the volume of alcohol will be.
It is worth noting, however, that chaptalization is illegal in several countries. Australia, Italy, Space, Greece, and Portugal are all but a few of the areas where this is not legal.
It is also not legal in the state of California. This is because the grapes that grow in this region are already quite high in terms of sugar content.
Areas where the grapes that grow are low in sugar content, tend to legalize chaptalization. Some US states, Germany, and France all allow this process to occur.
How Much Sugar Is In Wine?
The amount of sugar in wine will vary from wine to wine. Keep in mind that wine is made from grapes and fruit already contains sugar naturally, so all wines will have some level of residual sugar contained within them.
These sugars tend to be ‘eaten’ by the yeast during fermentation and become ethanol and so typically, the dryer the wine the less sugar content it’ll have.
- Most dry white and red wines such as Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Pinot Gris will have anywhere between 1-3 grams of sugar per liter.
- Most sparkling wines will have around 6-20 grams of sugar per liter.
- Most semi-dry wines such as Rieslings, White Zinfandel and Chenin Blanc will have around 10-50 grams of sugar per liter
- Most Fortified wines such as Port, Marsala, or Sherry can have 150 grams of sugar per liter.
- Most Dessert wines/sweet wines will contain around a massive 200 grams of sugar per liter.
Which Wine Has The Least Amount Of Sugar?
So as you can see from the information above, the sugar content of wine can vary massively, but if you are looking for the healthiest option you’ll want to opt for a dry wine.
Dry red in particular is your best choice coming in at just 0.9 grams of sugar per 175 ml glass.
If you can’t stomach a red, you’ll find the next best option is a dry white which will have around 1.4 grams of sugar per 175 ml glass.
Rose wine usually contains anywhere between 35 grams – 120 grams of sugar per glass.
How Does This Compare To Your Recommended Daily Allowance?
So, if we’re sticking to the recommended daily allowance of sugar, ladies, you’re looking at approximately 24 grams of sugar per day, while men should not be consuming any more than 36 grams of sugar per day.
According to the RDA, one glass of rose wine containing 120 grams of sugar is five times more than your daily allowance for women.
So you can see how a tipple of the stuff should really only be a now-and-again treat rather than a regular occurrence.
With this in mind, it might be time to try and cut back on the sweeter wines and try and acquire a taste for those dryer wines that contain much less of your daily sugar intake.
Final Thoughts
Sure, we all enjoy a glass of wine now and again. It can pair great with many meals and can be a great way to kick-start your weekend.
However, if you are going to be treating yourself to a glass of wine somewhat regularly, you might want to start taking more consideration into the variety of wine that you’re pouring into that glass.
As we have seen from this article, some types of wine have an astronomically large sugar content that can massively exceed your recommended daily allowance.
These guidelines are in place to help keep your body happy and healthy, and you really want to be adhering to them wherever possible.
But of course, I’m not going to ask you to restrict wine from your diet completely – it’s all about healthy swaps. A nice glass of dry red wine will only contain 0.9 grams of sugar which really isn’t all that high, so sip away.
However, a glass of rose can contain as much as 120 grams of sugar per glass which really is quite high. Rose is my favorite wine so I’m annoyed at my findings too – don’t worry.
And that doesn’t mean that you can’t ever drink a glass of rose again either. It’s all things in moderation. But you definitely don’t want to be exceeding your daily limit of sugar in just one drink on multiple occasions as this could have serious health implications.
One of the most common things I talk to my clients about is calories, but so few of them actually know anything about them.
Calories is not a dirty word. If you remove emotion from it, it is simply a unit of energy.
We need calories to live and thrive, and knowing how many to consume is important to ensure that you’re living a healthy lifestyle.
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