Calories in a Glass or Bottle of Wine

How many calories in a glass or bottle of wine? That depends on the type. See the chart for calories in various red and white table wines, dessert wines, and cooking wine. And read on to see what you should know about wine health benefits…


Pouring a glass of wine?  How many calories is that?

How Many Calories are there in Wine?

A 5 oz (148 ml) glass of red or white table wine has about 123 calories, while a bottle has about 624 calories. Dessert wines pack considerably more calories than their table wine cousins, filling you with about 161 calories per 3.5 oz (104 ml) glass or 1,167 calories per bottle. Calories do vary slightly between red and white wines, and also between wine grape varieties. See the charts below for the specific calories in various red wines, white wines, dessert wines, and cooking wine.

Calories in Red Wine
Red Wine Variety Glass
5 fl oz
(148 ml)
Bottle
25.4 fl oz
(750 ml)
References and Sources
Red Table Wine 125 634
Cabernet Sauvignon 122 619
Merlot 122 619
Pinot Noir 121 614
Zinfandel 129 654
Barbera 125 634
Burgundy 127 644
Cabernet Franc 122 619
Carignane 109 553
Claret 122 619
Gamay 115 583
Lemberger 118 599
Mouvedre 129 654
Petite Sirah 125 634
Sangiovese 126 639
Syrah 122 619


Calories from Alcohol vs. Sugar

Most of the calories in wine come from alcohol, which has 7 calories per gram. Most of the rest come from carbohydrates in the form of sugar, which has 4 calories per gram. But most table wines have relatively little sugar, so it’s mostly the alcohol content that drives the calories. For example, a more sweet wine such as Riesling has about 118 calories per 5 oz (148 ml) glass. It has about 5.5 grams of sugar, which is about 22 calories. So the alcohol accounts for over 80% of the calories. That’s why a dry wine with little sugar but more alcohol can have more calories than a sweet wine. For example, a glass of Merlot has less than one gram of sugar, but it has 122 calories — 5% more calories than the sweeter Riesling.

This may seem counter intuitive, but it actually makes sense because the alcohol in wine is made by fermenting the sugar. So a wine with more alcohol tends to have less sugar because the sugar has been used up during the fermentation process. And since alcohol has almost twice the calories as sugar, the higher alcohol wines have more calories. The one exception are dessert wines.

Calories in White Wine
White Wine Variety Glass
5 fl oz
(148 ml)
Bottle
25.4 fl oz
(750 ml)
References and Sources
White Table Wine 121 614
Chardonnay 123 624
Chenin Blanc 118 599
Fume Blanc 121 614
Gewurztraminer 119 604
Gewurztraminer (Late Harvest) 164 832
Muller Thurgau 112 568
Muscat 123 624
Pinot Blanc 119 604
Pinot Gris (Pinot Grigio) 122 619
Sauvignon Blac 119 604
Riesling 118 599
Semillon 121 614

Cooking with wine is a great way to cut calories while enhancing flavor.

Portion Size Really Matters

The standard portion size for a glass of table wine is 5 oz (148 ml), as defined in by the USDA. For dessert wine, the standard serving size is only 3.5 oz (104 ml) per glass. So portion size really matters. If you are pouring more than 5 oz in your over-sized red wine glass, the calories can add up quickly. At 5 oz per glass, you should get about 5 glasses per bottle of wine. If you are getting less, then you may be getting 20% – 30% more calories per glass.

Dessert Wines Have the Most Calories

As you can see from the chart, dessert wines have the most calories. The standard serving size is only 3.5 oz (104 ml), but with 161 calories per 3.5 oz glass they pack 30% more calories than a standard 5 oz (148 ml) glass of red or white table wine. This is because they contain more alcohol and more sugar.

Cooking Wines

When you cook with wine, you lose between 60% and 95% of the alcohol. This cuts down substantially on the calories, since most of the wine calories in wine come from the alcohol.

Cooking with wine can be a great way to cut down the calories in a meal while wonderfully enhancing the flavor. You can use wine to reduce the amount of fat (and fat calories!) in your meals by substituting wine for part or all of the oil required in the recipe. Unfortunately, you wont’t get many of the health benefits found in wine, because most of those come from the alcohol. But you’ll be enhancing the flavor of you meals while you make them healthier by reducing the the calories you get from fat. So, it will still be better and healthier!

Cooking Wine
Quantity Calories
References and Sources
100 g 50
1 fl oz 14
1 tsp 2
1 Tbsp 7
Calories in Dessert Wine
Dessert Wine Variety Glass
3 fl oz (89 ml)
standard serving size
Glass
5 fl oz (148 ml)
shown for comparison
Bottle
25.4 fl oz (750 ml)
Note that USDA Standard Serving size for dessert wine is 3.5 fl oz. The 5 fl oz size shown for comparison to table wines.
References and Sources
Dry Dessert Wine 165 236 1196
Sweet Dessert Wine 157 224 1138

References & Sources: (show)(hide)

    • United States. Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Research Service. Nutrient Data Laboratory.
    • USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 24.
    • Washington: GPO,
    • 30 March 2012.
    • Weil, Andrew, M.D..
    • “Healthy Cooking with Wine?”
    • DrWeil.com.
    • Tempe, AZ: Weil Lifestyle, LLC.
    • Web. 16 June 2008.
    • http://www.drweil.com.

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