The average calorie count for wine

[Guest guest]

All

Dorothy Gaiter and Brecher, the wine columnists of the Wall Street Journal,

answered a reader's question on the average calorie count for wine.

Happy Holidays,

Arturo

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Counting Calories

What is the average calorie count for wine? Does it vary greatly between

Chardonnay, Zinfandel, Cabernet, Pinot Grigio or Merlot?

-- P. , ville, Ind.

About 125 calories seems like a good, round average for a 5-ounce glass of table

wine. Most of the calories in wine come from alcohol, so the higher the alcohol,

the higher the number of calories. And, of course, sweetness adds calories, too.

There is a fun calculator online, compliments of the U.S. Department of

Agriculture, that breaks down all sorts of food and beverages by calories and

other nutritional measures. You can find it here:

www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search. Just type " wine " into the keyword search,

click the kind of wine you are searching for, and check the box for " 1 serving 5

fl. oz. " The number after " kcal " on the resulting chart is the calorie figure.

By DOROTHY J. GAITER AND JOHN BRECHER

Wine Notes