The Realist's Guide to Keto Wines

[LeCheffre]

https://winefolly.com/update/the-realists-guide-to-keto-wines

**What makes a great keto wine?**

Well, many wines have little to no carbohydrates. This is good news because carbs are the nemesis of this diet.

Of course, not all wines are keto-friendly. Let’s figure out what wines to buy and which ones to avoid when following the keto-diet. Plus, how much should you really be drinking on a diet anyway?

Worth a read. Wine can be a bit infuriating, as it is not considered food, and so does not need to have a nutrition label. There’s no requirement to list residual sugar on the label, and so nearly any winemaker who has stopped fermentation or added sugar will not list such on the label. Some champagnes, being naturally very low in RS will list, but still, it’s hard to translate to a carb count to a pour unless you know what you’re doing.

**Carbs:** Take residual sugar level in grams per liter (g/L) x 0.15 = grams of carbs per 150 ml serving.

A thing I learned here is that higher alcohol levels are higher in sugar. I’m not sure this is always the case, but Zin is a favorite, tends to have a high alcohol by volume, and always gets a reading from LCHF experts, though I have dismissed them as talking about White Zin, which makes up the bulk of global production.

[OldDoug]

A thing I learned here is that higher alcohol levels are higher in sugar.

LC, I’d say this is usually not the case. The more sugar that is fermented into alcohol, the less sugar that remains, normally. Many Rieslings are 8-9% alcohol, definitely have a truly sweet taste and have more residual sugar left than most wines, where the average is more like 11-15% That article mentioned some grape varieties that naturally have a higher-than-average sugar content, but it still mostly gets turned into alcohol.

This all goes out the window for ‘fortified’ wines like port, with added distilled spirits and stopped fermentation, leaving a bit hit of sugar, i.e. really sweet and usually around 20% alcohol (not one’s best keto choice ).

[Janie]

LC, I’d say this is usually not the case. The more sugar that is fermented into alcohol, the less sugar that remains, normally. Many Rieslings are 8-9% alcohol, definitely have a truly sweet taste and have more residual sugar left than most wines, where the average is more like 11-15% That article mentioned some grape varieties that naturally have a higher-than-average sugar content, but it still mostly gets turned into alcohol.

I agree with Doug and disagree with the article. I used to make wine and mead (when I got a lot of honey from my hives) and I dislike sweet wines and meads so I always used a strong yeast that would convert as much of the sugar in the grapes as possible so it would be A) high alcohol and B) not sweet. Some of my meads would kick your ass!

Some wines and meads are back-sweetened (sugar added after fermentation) and some just use yeasts that poop out and leave residual sugar instead of converting it to alcohol.

If the wine isn’t sweet then chances are it is a good keto wine.

[LeCheffre]

That was all my thought with Zin. Sure, the grapes are sugary. That’s where the high alcohol comes from. White Zin is sweet and kind of gross to me. But red Zin is like my best value varietal.

[Janie]

I love a Red Zin, too!

I started out many years ago drinking the sweet Reislings and White Zins but gradually I developed a taste for the dryer more complex wines and prefer the red Zins, Malbecs, Cabs, etc.

The first time my husband brought home a red Zin I thought he’d lost his mind because I remembered how sweet the white Zins were!!!