Wine Q & A With Ask.com: How Many Calories Are In That Glass?

As promised, we return today to our on-going project with Ask.com, our new colleague in all things wine-ponderous and -ponderable. And this week, we’ll be addressing the single most frequently asked question regarding our favorite beverage:

How many calories are in a glass of wine?

With the weather getting warmer and thoughts turning to the inevitable bathing-suit season up ahead, today is the perfect time to address the question, its answers, and the ramifications of both.

First, the Ask.com answer: “It all depends on the wine, but around 125 is usually a pretty safe guess.”

Now let’s address the two biggest variables here: The size of your pour and the type of wine you’re consuming. If, for example, you fill up a 12-ounce glass to the rim, then your calorie count will be significantly higher. For most of us, though, a 5-ounce pour is pretty standard. Regarding the type of wine you’re drinking--well, this one is pretty much based on logic. Sweeter wines, like demi-sec Champagnes and Port, have more sugar in them, and, therefore, more calories...but it’s certainly not enough to warrant avoiding them. Ever. (Drink more of them, we say: They definitely don’t get the love they so richly deserve!)

In fact, the calorie count in wine really isn’t worth fretting over in the first place. After all, there are so many health benefits to drinking wine that the nominal number of calories in a typical glass are easily superseded by the multitude of ways in which that glass of wine contributes to a healthy life. (Type “wine and health” into the search box on this blog for links.)

So though the official answer to this question is approximately 125 calories, give or take a few, the truth is that worrying about it is unnecessary. There’s enough good stuff in there that more and more experts are saying, with confidence, that drinking wine in moderation is quite beneficial to your health.

As far as the intangibles--the pleasure that wine brings to your life, the connection with the earth, the way in which it makes socializing more enjoyable--those are pretty much infinite.