The Thin Red Wine

The Thin Red Wine

Howard Riedel

Buffalo News - January 8, 2002

Wine writers are fond of describing a wine with rich, ripe fruit and low acidity as "fat." They call wines with lots of alcohol, glycerine and body "fleshy." And a wine that lacks structure and tastes unpleasantly heavy is called "flabby."

They should talk. Most people in the wine business have physiques that are frequently compared to Arnold's. Tom Arnold's. Which leads to the critical question, does drinking wine (or being married to Roseanne) make you fat?

The answer, of course, is a resounding "no," thanks to some exciting scientific research found on a Web site at Potsdam State College. Studies in reputable publications such as the International Journal of Obesity (I think it was the issue with Roseanne on the cover) suggest that the calories in alcohol are not used efficiently by our bodies, but that alcohol increases our metabolic rate, causing more calories from other foods to be burned instead of being stored as fat.

This is obviously true, since the report is on the Internet, and it has footnotes. 1) Also, these findings have been corroborated in another study I remember reading about in a magazine I can't find. (It was a very respectable magazine, which probably explains why I didn't save it.) So the real question becomes, how do we incorporate wine into our dieting plans?

One theory, when you're eating out, is to avoid places where you can't get wine. Now you've eliminated fattening fast food from your diet (unless you're willing to go to Paris, where you can get a glass of vin ordinaire with your Big Mac). This works better than eliminating foods from your diet that don't match well with wine. Getting rid of peanut butter might help you lose weight. Eliminating salads and artichoke hearts probably won't.

Another theory is something called "The Wine Diet," which basically says you should figure out how many calories you need in a day, figure out how many calories your daily allotment of wine takes up, and limit your eating to the remainder of the calories. This reminds me of my favorite David Letterman story, when a guy on the steps of a Las Vegas casino asks Dave for a handout to buy medicine for his daughter. When Dave asks how he can be sure the guy won't blow the money on gambling, he says, "Oh, I got gambling money."

So now that you got wine calories, how much wine does it take to use them up? A 5-ounce glass of wine is about 100 calories. A dry white wine might be about five calories less; a rich red wine might be about five calories more. A sweet or fortified dessert wine (such as an icewine, port or sherry) might be 25 to 50 calories more per glass. If you're thinking of something other than wine, a can of beer (which has roughly the equivalent amount of alcohol) is probably in the neighborhood of 110 to 130 calories. The equivalent mixed drink would have a shade more than an ounce of liquor, which is about 60 calories -- plus whatever is in the mixer.

In conclusion, wine is fat- and cholesterol-free, helps you burn calories faster and helps fill you up when you eat so you'll eat less. Which does not explain the 20 pounds I've gained since I started writing this column. My theory is that it's the natural consequence of marrying a chef. And that leads me to my topic for next month, Really Expensive Wines to Buy for Your Wife When You Tell Her Things She Really Doesn't Want to Hear.

(C) 2002 Buffalo News. via ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved

HOME | WINES | EVENTS | DIRECTIONS | CWS WINE CLUB | VINTAGE NEW YORK | EMAIL