How many calories does wine have?

The calorie content of a wine depends on its Alcohol content and its Residual sugar content.

As a very rough, generalised guideline , one glass (200 ml) of dry wine has about 150,000 calories or 150 kilocalories or 630 kilojoules.

As the alcohol and/or residual sugar content increases, this value increases. This means:

• Full-bodied, high-alcohol wines have more calories than light, low-alcohol wines.
• Residually sweet and noble sweet wines have more calories than dry wines.

Calories and kilocalories as a unit of measurement

Calorie (cal) or kilocalorie (kcal = 1000 cal) is a unit for measuring energy, especially heat. The basic rule is: 1 calorie is the amount of energy required to heat 1 gram of water by 1 degree Celsius - under certain, fixed conditions such as ambient temperature and pressure. Another unit for this is joule (J) or kilojoule (kJ), where: 1 cal ≈ 4.1868 J and 1 J ≈ 0.239 cal.

In the case of food and semi-luxury foods, the physiological calorific value is given in kcal or kJ - always in relation to a defined quantity. Pure alcohol has a calorific value of 7.1 kilocalories per gram (kcal/g), sugar has a calorific value of 4 kilocalories per gram. In order to determine the calorie content of a wine as accurately as possible, it is necessary to know its alcohol content on the one hand and its residual sugar content on the other.

Determining the residual sugar content

The residual sugar content of a wine is measured in grams per litre (g/l) and is ideally stated by the producer, although it does not have to be on the label of the bottle. If it is not possible to find out, the indication of the flavour on the label will help:

• dry: 0.1 to 9 g/l residual sugar
• medium dry: 9.1 to 18 g/l residual sugar
• feinherb: about 15 to 25 g/l residual sugar
• medium sweet: 18.1 to 45 g/l residual sugar
• sweet: from 45.1 g/l residual sugar

If no flavour is indicated for German wines, the wine is not dry; this means that it usually has more than 10, often even more than 20 g/l residual sugar. In all other countries, a wine with no flavour indicated on the label is dry.

The following table may provide a simple overview:

Determination of the alcohol content

The alcohol content of a wine must be indicated on the label, and this is done in the unit of volume percent (vol.-%). However, to determine the calorie content, the amount of pure alcohol in relation to the amount of liquid must be known. This requires the following information:

• the amount of liquid, i.e. amount of wine in litres (l) or millilitres (ml = 0.001 l)
• the alcohol content in percent by volume (vol.-%) according to the label
• the specific gravity of alcohol, namely 0.8 g/ml

These values can then be substituted into the following equation:
Alcohol content (in g) = amount of liquid (in ml) x (vol.-% / 100) x 0.8

Example calculation for a bottle (750 ml = 0.75 l) of wine with 13% alcohol by volume:
750 x (13 / 100) x 0.8 = 78 g pure alcohol

Example calculation for a glass (200 ml = 0.2 l) of wine with 13% alcohol by volume:
200 x (13 / 100) x 0.8 = 20.8 g of pure alcohol

Again, the following table may provide a simple overview:

Determining the calorie content

Since the calorific values of alcohol and sugar are known (see above), the calorie content of a wine can now be determined with the help of the quantities.

Example calculation per bottle:

• 750 ml wine (= 0.75 l = one bottle)
• 13% alcohol by volume = 78 g pure alcohol based on 750 ml
• 5 g/l residual sugar = 3.75 g sugar based on 750 ml
• Calorific value alcohol: 7.1 kcal/g
• Calorific value sugar: 4 kcal/g

(78 g alcohol x 7.1 kcal) + (3.75 g residual sugar x 4 kcal) = 553.8 kcal + 15 kcal = 568.8 kcal

Example calculation per glass:

• 200 ml of wine (= 0.2 l = one glass)
• 13% alcohol by volume = 20.8 g pure alcohol based on 200 ml
• 5 g/l residual sugar = 1 g sugar based on 200 ml
• Calorific value alcohol: 7.1 kcal/g
• Calorific value sugar: 4 kcal/g

(20.8 g alcohol x 7.1 kcal) + (1 g residual sugar x 4 kcal) = 147.68 kcal + 4 kcal = 151.68 kcal

A 0.2-litre glass of medium-bodied, dry wine thus has about 150 kcal.

Summary table

Combining the two tables above gives the following rounded calorie values (in kcal) for a 0.2-litre glass of wine with the relevant alcohol and residual sugar content (Alk. = alcohol in vol.-%; Restz. = residual sugar in g/l), whereby the combination of very low and very high values is extremely rare or practically impossible: