Ladies, and gents ( if there are any gentleman followers!) I thank you all for your comments. And I would so love to go tasting with those of you who mentioned it. I love tasting and touring, although I guess for some it could be as exciting as watching paint dry! For me, I love the look and smell of the vineyards, the hurried pace during the crush and the relaxing tempo of the tasting rooms. It's heaven on earth to me, and if I was born a Rockefeller or a child of Bill Gates, I would so set myself up on alittle plot of land in California and grow me some grapes!!!
Dawn had asked a question about why red wine has carbs and white doesn't. I'm sure it has something to do with the juice coming in contact with the skins during the wine making process. I went to a site that had alot of information and is a great site if you ever want wine info. The writer is Lisa Shea and it seems from her blog that she follows the Atkins, low carb diet, so she posted some wine info I found interesting. I'm sharing it here for those who are interested. Hope you all have an awesome day. It's 82, cool, breezy, sunny and gorgeous in Blue Bell, PA today!!!!
The information I have copied below is from Wineintro.com. Lisa Shea also has a low carb site and the link is below. I checked it out and there is some great info there. Isn't this little world of blogging wonderful? It takes us to all kinds of places. I started out looking into the carb count of wine and got so much more informtion.
The Calories in Wine
For a 3.5oz glass of wine, which is what many consider 'one glass', the alcohol provides around 80 calories. The calories in a glass of wine come solely from the alcohol in the wine. There are only trace amounts of protein in the wine, 0 grams of fat, and 0.0 grams of saturated fats.There are about 3 grams of "carbohydrate equivalents", 9mg of calcium, .3mg of iron, and 5g of sodium. For more exact details about the vitamins, minerals and components of a glass of wine, read USDA Carb and Content Information on Wine.
For more about the carb-like activity of wine, read the Wine, Carbs and the Atkins Diet article as well as Wine, Alcohol, and Ethanol - the Chemistry of Wine.
Here are some caloric figures for 'full servings' of wine and wine-like products:
- 5oz Wine: 100 calories
- 5oz "Lite" wine: 80 calories
- 12oz Wine Spritzer: 120 calories
- 12oz Wine Cooler: 215 calories
- 12oz can of beer: 146 calories
- 2.5oz shot of rum/vodka/etc: ~100 - 120 calories
Thinking about your health? Those few extra calories may bring far more healthful benefits per-calorie than just about anything else you could drink. Wine's healthy offerings including protecting against heart disease, cancer, and much more.
If you are dieting, be sure to read about Wine and Calories - How Wine is Metabolized.
Wine is actually VERY unlikely to get turned into fat. However, if you drink a *high alcohol* wine, that alcohol will get used by the body as energy first, before it decides to start using your fat cells. It does that at a rate of 7 calories/gram.
These are all generalizations, though. The true amount of calories in a glass of wine varies from wine to wine.
Atkins, Low Carb and Wine
I also run a Low Carb website so it happens that I do a ton of research into how wine affects health, how wine affects weight loss, and every other combination. I have been on a low carb diet for many years now, and am quite happy and healthy with it. It's important to realize that low carb is NOT about eating tons of fat. It is about eating low SUGAR. It's about avoiding junk food, avoiding processed foods, and focusing on quality vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus and so on.
Cholesterol is one of the key concerns of people on a low carb diet. As you probably know, scientists have now divided cholesterol into groups. There is the "good cholesterol", HDL, which gets fats to be excreted out of your system. And then there is the "bad cholesterol", LDL, which keeps those fats in your blood stream. When the fats hang out in your blood, they tend to stick inside your arteries, clog them up, and cause things like ... death.
Wine, in addition to lowering your blood sugar levels, has also been shown in scientific experiments to increase the amount of HDL found in your bloodstream. So if you have a glass of wine along with that steak, not only do you help depress the blood sugar levels in your body, but you also help bring in some HDL, to counteract the LDL that is flooding your system!
Plus, with the USDA listing carb values of 0.8g to 1.8g per glass of wine, the wine shouldn't even dent your total carb count!
