Doctors go back and forth on if wine is good or bad for you. We know that some of our customers don’t drink and some do. We respect everyone’s choices. You should speak to your doctor about alcohol if you drink to be sure that you drink in a way that is healthy for you. And we want to help people make the best choices for themselves. When you reach for a drink, you don’t want to upset your blood sugar. While low-carb options for beers have been on the market for years, low-carb wines are newer to the scene. Some wines are naturally lower in carbs than others. Today, we’re taking a look at some of your best options.
At many summer cookouts, there’s a jug of sangria. But, it’s best to avoid it. Sangria can be made a thousand ways, and you don’t know what juice, soda or fruit have been added, making the cocktail into a glass of sugar. If you are looking for a refreshing, less alcoholic wine drink, a wine and soda water spritzer can cut the carbs and calories in half.
Even without looking to specific brands, you can roughly gauge how much sugar is in wine. That’s because the sugar in wine is what is left from the natural sugar in the grape as it ferments into alcohol. Very sweet dessert wines like port, sherry and Moscato can have nine grams of carbs per glass. And, as a general rule, less expensive wines (under 10 dollars a bottle) tend to be higher in sugar. For rough estimates, on average, when it comes to red wine, pinot noir has 3.4 grams of carbs, syrah has 3.8, cabernet sauvignon has 3.82 and zinfandel has 4.2. Those are your four safest picks. For white wine, your four best choices are pinot grigio with three grams, chardonnay with 3.2, sauvignon blanc with 3.8 and riesling with 5.54.
If you stick to these drinks, you have a rough idea of how many carbs you are having. But, companies are bringing out brands with calorie and carb counts on the label, which is rare for wine. Brands like UN’SWEET boast that their wines have 129 calories and five grams of carbs per serving of either pinot grigio or cabernet sauvignon — that’s not the lowest you can find. But, at least you have a firm count if you want an exact number. Kim Crawford’s Illuminate rosé and sauvignon blanc have 70 calories and 3.8 grams of carbs — they are available at Target. If you knock them down with club soda as a sparkling soda, you have a light, refreshing drink for a summer party!
While we wouldn’t advise anyone to drink, especially not without speaking to your doctor about your health concerns, if you do drink, look around for the many new low-carb options that are available. Pick a drink that suits your health goals and taste!
