Low-Carb Wine

If the future of wine is in a box, the box may be drier than expected, at least in terms of residual sugars (read carbohydrates).

Given the recent success of low-carb beer, it should be no surprise that winemakers are jumping on the bandwagon. As written up in the Good Eating section of this week's Tribune, a number of wineries are now providing carbohydrate and calorie information through Web pages, labels, and other promotional materials. One winemaker has even worked the carb count into the product name, selling One.6 chardonnay and One.9 merlot, named for the number of grams of carbohydrates in a 5 oz serving. The French, who have their own obscure system for naming wines that nobody else can pronounce, let alone understand, would not be amused.

There seems to be no escaping carb counting these days, but do we really need the nutrition information right in the name? Wine is naturally low in carbohydrates, so a brand promoted as low-carb may or may not actually have fewer carbohydrates or calories than other comparable wines.

Right or wrong, the problem with the whole low-carb frenzy is that it's an oversimplification. The one thing nutritionists all seem to agree on is that metabolism is complicated, but the message that filters through to the masses is that as long as you count carbs, the rest will take care of itself. Time will tell, but if you're skeptical, at least you can relax over a glass of low-carb wine in the meantime.