Starting this new year, as usual, i realize i need to shed a few pounds. I havent had a cheeseburger nor a drop of alcohol since january 31st and id really like to. So, where the heck are those lite wines out there.
Specifically maybe a
Turley zinfandel lite
Caymus cabernet lite
Bedrock lite
Or
Carlisle lite
Funny. I have a friend in the ‘vodka lite’ business. Sells a line of vodka that’s 40% less calories vs regular vodka, comes in lots of ‘fun’ flavors, and he advertises it as ‘smooth enough to drink w/o a mixer’ to further cut calories. Markets it in the LA bars where the girls go out.
So what’s the trick? 60% standard flavored vodka mixed with 40% tap water. Ka Bang goes the profit wagon…
Same deal with lite orange juice. Drives me crazy that my wife buys it. Even when I point out to her it’s cheaper, and you get more quantity, by buying real OJ and cutting it yourself with water. Go figure.
Tap Water? But there are so many options that can make your “lite wine” more interesting and give it that wonderful quality of minerality that the AFWE are always talking about. Ray's + Stark Bar Menu | Restaurant at LACMA, Los Angeles, CA Maybe cost a little more but well worth it.
Here’s an old, traditional drink from Portugal made with white port and tonic. Sounds bad, but they are very tasty. Consider them like the forerunner of today’s wine spritzer. Depending on the tonic, you could use this to cut a few calories.
I have been trying to cut back as well but the only way is with lots of water. When I pour a glass of milk with dinner I end up drinking 2. So in the end it’s not necessarily drinking too much wine but drinking too much of anything with big calories. I limit myself to a single glass of wine. Much easier to control.
Yes, wouldn’t the best way to make sure your wine is relatively low in calories be to make sure its bone dry. I would think more sugar in wine would more quickly add calories than alcohol (but I guess i don’t know for sure).
My quick google suggests pure alcohol is 7 calories/ml and sugar is 4 calories a gram.
Most wines range in the 11-15% alcohol range and in the 0-40 grams of sugar range (excluding dessert wines). So drinking a wine with say 3pp less alcohol (say 12% rather than 15%) would save you 21 calories in a 150ml glass; whereas droning a bone dry wine vs. say one at 10g/l would save you 6 calories per glass.
So if you’re talking dry to off dry styles it does look like alcohol can be the biggest factor, although overall you’re not saving huge calories.
I’d prefer one glass of good wine rather than two of some watered down crap.
Usually dieting works best when you watch consumption rather than eating a bag of lite potato chips.
I did a bunch of work a few years for a client who was creating a start up in the same business (maybe the same guy since he is based in LA) - haven’t talked to him in a while but it really seemed to be catching on - even signed up a couple big music names to help on the marketing side and get attention. I wonder if it ended up growing as expected…
Must be completely psychological because there seems to be no reason to pay the same for a “lite” drink when you could just use less in a drink or water it down and achieve the same result for less cost (though bars couldn’t officially do that but people at home could). Better I guess to have the producer water it down.