You’ve come to the end of a busy season, where you enjoyed a lot of festivities. Perhaps you’ve overindulged, and your waistline is showing the effects. You decide to put the brakes on the calories for a little while and consume only as much as health experts advise. You are, after all, very health conscious and even if being fit isn’t your first priority, you do need to keep your health in check.
But should health resolutions also determine what you drink at the end of a tough day at work? Well, while one drink a week is not going to cost you, did you know that some wines contain double the calories of others?
So, will the bottle of Rosé you purchase on your way home consume most of your allotted calories for the day? If you love your rosé wine, and you wish to find out more about how much you can safely consume, here’s all you need to know.
Definition: The Wine Calorie Formula
When you start comparing bottles of wine you’ll need to understand what experts refer to and how to identify a bottle’s calorie content. Unfortunately, wine manufacturers are not required to put calorie content on the bottle, but they are required to put the %ABV on the label.
Now, a good measure of the calorie content is the alcohol content. The ABV (alcohol by volume) in a wine correlates to the percentage of calories. Both wine calories and alcohol content come from the sugar in grapes. So, the greater the percentage ABV, the greater the calories and vice versa.
This means that often you only have to look at the alcohol content to gauge your calories.
In order to calculate the formula, you need to know the ounces in your wine glass, and the %ABV.
The formula is: (Fluid ounces) x (ABV%) x 1.6 = Calories per serving (kcal)
This gives you an edge when it comes to counting those alcohol calories from your Rosé wine.
Quick Answer: How Many Calories are there in an 8oz Wine Glass of Rosé?
According to the above formula, there are about 145 calories in a glass of average Rosé wine. This is the equivalent of half a burger – so it’s not negligible.
However, Rosé wines do differ in content, so to stay healthy—and slim—you may need a little more information.
Calories in Rosé Wine
The Health Benefits of Rosé Wine
Are you aware that rosé wine has distinct health benefits compared to red or white wines? Even if the number of calories is only slightly better in rosé wine, its health benefits may help you choose this pink delight above any other.
So, what exactly are the benefits of rosé wine that would make you prefer it as your ‘go-to’ wine, rather than white or red?
- Rosé wine has beneficial effects on cholesterol. It lowers bad cholesterol and increases good cholesterol.
- Rosé wine also contains resveratrol antioxidants, which protect against cancer.
- It reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease and lowers blood pressure because it contains potassium.
- The wine can protect against inflammation.
- Rose also contains a few minerals and vitamins that are beneficial, including calcium, iron, magnesium, selenium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, zinc, copper, manganese, and vitamins B1-B6. It may not be a health drink as such, but it does contain healthy ingredients.
The Other Side of the Story
We do need to mention some negative effects wine can have on your body, usually when used in excess. By understanding this, you can easily maintain a healthy lifestyle and your goal weight, with wine as part of your meal plans.
Your body handles alcohol in a similar way to how it handles poison. It goes straight to the liver. Any other nutrients you have eaten get put on the back-burner, until alcohol is eliminated.
Furthermore, alcohol depletes the ability of burning off fat and cab even make you an awful lot hungrier than usual. If this prompts you to enjoy more food than usual, obviously your Rose wine will indirectly play a role in your weight gain. Be conscious of this and limit your food intake on nights when unwinding with a glass or two, so you don’t regret the kilojoules the next morning.
Wine can also deplete testosterone, an important consideration for fitness in men. Added to this, it reduces muscle protein synthesis. So, professional athletes do need to think wisely about how exactly they’ll enjoy their wine while maintaining their optimum levels of fitness.
However, ultimately, the information above demonstrates that alcohol in moderation can have a few health benefits. But what about those calories?
Is Rosé Wine Good for Weight Loss?
The question has to be asked: is Rosé wine good for weight loss? There are two issues to address.
Does Rosé Wine Help You Lose Weight?
Firstly, does Rosé wine help you to lose weight simply by drinking it? Here, the answer has to be ‘no’.
The calories in most alcoholic drinks are only second to amounts of fat. The body stores these calories as fat, as they have little nutritional value. Also, the body burns these calories first (before storing) prior to burning the fat you already have – which is not what you want for weight loss.
So, drinking Rosé wine for the purpose of losing weight is not going to help you.
Will Rosé Help Keep Calories Down?
The second issue is a little clearer. If you drink rosé wine, rather than red or white wines, will it help keep the calories down? Here you may find a more favorable answer.
Looking at the numbers, it does seem that Rosé is the best option of the three wines, with regards to calories. So, you would be controlling your calorie intake much easier if you drank Rosé wine, as opposed to red or white.
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Let’s Compare Calories: Red vs White vs Rosé
Distinguishing Between Red, White and Rosé Wines
First, make sure you know the difference between white, red, and rosé wines, because they each have their own characteristics that impact the drinker’s health.
Of course, the color is a give-away, and rosé wine is particularly known for its pretty pink hue. Some, however, look a light orange, and others close to purple.
The color is achieved through the process during which the red grapes are crushed and destemmed. They are then macerated in their skin before fermenting. This takes place in a very short period of time – less than 24 hours. The grape must is pressed, and the skins are thrown away before further fermentation. This is in contrast to red wine, where the skins remain in contact with the wine for far longer.
Some vintners use another method, by extracting rosé from red wine during the process of making both, and then further fermenting it on its own.
Regarding the other types of wine, red wine is red, and white, a light yellow or see-through color.
In terms of flavor, rosé wine is very light, fruity, flowery and citrusy, and is less sweet than white wine.
Is Rosé Wine More Fattening than White or Red?
As stated above, it helps if you understand the calorie count in all wines in order to compare which is more fattening.
The red wines are known to have the heaviest calorie count. The red wines vary between 550 – 650 kcal per 750ml bottle of wine.
The white wines are generally lighter. They vary between 540 – 615 kcal per 750 ml bottle of wine. There is an outlier in the form of Gewurztraminer, which contains between 885 – 1065 kcal per 750 ml bottle of wine. You can see that in general, you will do a little better to drink white wines, rather than red.
On the whole, Rosé wines offer even fewer calories than the options above. However, we need to mention that it’s a little difficult to categorize Rosé wines in terms of calories, because the kinds of Rosé wines aren’t as common as those of red and white. They tend not to be categorized by name, but by region. This means that one cannot classify the calories in each type of Rosé wine, but only give general guidelines.
Still, the Rosé wines tend to contain between 415 – 735 kcal per 750 ml bottle of wine. So, drinking a bottle that rates on the lower end of this scale is definitely better than any red or white wine. But if you opt for a type that contains over 600 kcal per 750ml, your weight goals will be more difficult to maintain.
Other Ways and Means of Limiting Calories from Wine
The simplest way of limiting calories, of course, is to limit the number of drinks you consume. You could also drink from smaller glasses. Naturally, you can burn it off afterwards. 30 – 40 minutes of light exercise are required to burn off 1 glass of wine.
Which Rosé Wines Should You Choose?
It is best to head for sparkling wines. They definitely have lower calories. A few examples to try, next time you shop for wine:
- You could choose any Rosé wine from Provence.
- Try Yellowglen Sparkling Pink 65 Soft Rosé, which is from Australia. It contains about 65 calories per 5oz.
Generally, Rosé wine can be good even when inexpensive, so if calories are important, don’t worry too much about the price.
In Summary
In short, Rosé wines can be beneficial for your health. Drunk in moderation, it can help keep the brain functional, the cardiovascular system working, and help combat inflammation.
If you limit your intake, the calories won’t be concerning either. While Rosé can’t make you lose weight, it certainly does not add much, especially if you drink from a bubbly source.
Why not pop by your store and try a Rosé the next time you’re there? Remember, it doesn’t have to be the most expensive to be really delicious.