FAQs: Sugar in Wine
Is there sugar in wine?
A recent survey by the Wine Market Council found that a majority of wine consumers think wine has added sugar. I want you to know unequivocally that Silver Thread wines do not have added sugar. Most of our wines are dry, which means they have no sugar or extremely low amounts, because yeast convert the natural grape sugar into alcohol during fermentation.
Some of our wines have residual sugar, which is natural grape juice sweetness that remains in the wine after fermentation. This is normally a winemaking decision to stop the fermentation in order to leave some sweetness. Examples include Semi-dry Riesling and Good Earth White.
How much natural/residual sugar is in wine?
This or a glass of semi-dry Riesling?
I did a little math to convert residual sugar into a more relatable number. Silver Thread’s 2024 Semi-dry Riesling has 24g/L residual sugar (2.4%). One serving of wine is 5oz (150mL) which converts to 3.6g of sugar per glass. 3.6g is a bit less than one teaspoon of table sugar. It’s equivalent to the sugar in one Starburst candy, one Chips Ahoy cookie, or one tablespoon of ketchup. Remember, these foods contain added sugars from processing, whereas our wines contain natural sugars from grapes. I don’t know about you, but I’d take the glass of Semi-dry Riesling over those choices any day!
It’s extremely difficult to ferment 100% of the grape sugar into alcohol in Riesling or Gewurztraminer. As a result, these wines taste dry, but usually have a tiny bit of sugar. If you do the same math as above for our Dry Riesling and Gewurztraminer, which each have 6 g/L residual sugar, you’ll discover that a glass has less than one gram of sugar. Completely dry wines like Blackbird, Good Earth Red, and Dry Rose have no sugar.
What about sugar in wines from other producers?
Blackbird Red has 0% residual sugar, or RS.
I can only speak for Silver Thread: we don’t add sugar to our wines. Sweetening of wines before bottling is not uncommon at some wineries, both here in the Finger Lakes and around the world. Another winemaking practice that involves sugar is chaptalization, or adding sugar to grape juice or must to increase the potential alcohol. We don’t do that either. If Mother Nature didn’t provide a lot of sugar in the grapes that year, we’re okay with making lower alcohol wines.
How many calories are in a glass of wine?
No doubt people are concerned about sugar because it relates to calories. A 5 oz. glass of dry wine has about 120 calories, according to the U.S.D.A. Most of those calories come from the alcohol. It follows that a lower alcohol wine (10-12% like those we make at Silver Thread) has fewer calories than a 15% alcohol wines (ex: California Zinfandel).
This article is not intended as a substitute for health information from a medical professional. However, I know it will be reassuring to those who value honesty and transparency about their wine.
