4 Healthiest Wines to Drink

There can be a fair amount of confusion when it comes to understanding which are the healthiest wines. Articles abound regaling wine for its antioxidant properties, which in popular lore make it sound like wine is a cure for all that ails you.

Despite its beneficial properties, wine is still an alcoholic beverage that calls for mindful consumption. One National Library of Medicine review links modest intake within a Mediterranean diet to limited health perks, but the World Health Organization reminds us that any amount of drinking carries some risk.

So how do you identify the healthiest wines to work into your diet? Do you choose based on varietals, blends or special formulations? Is there a way to alter existing pours into beverages to create the healthiest wine drinks that retain their enjoyment? With shelves loaded with bottles of varietals and flavors, deciding what wine is the healthiest to buy can be a challenge.

To make your quest clearer, we’ve put together a guide to choosing the healthiest wine available to keep your shopping and dining habits aligned with your health goals. Once you know the right direction to head in, you’ll find it easier to recognize the healthiest wines on the market.

 Jump to Section

• Is Drinking Wine Healthy for You?
• How We Choose The Healthiest Wine
• The 4 Healthiest Types of Wine
• What Wine Is the Healthiest to Drink?

Is Drinking Wine Healthy for You?

The trickiest aspect of picking the healthiest wine to drink is that alcohol is inherently unhealthy. The real secret to enjoying the healthiest wines is including them as part of a sensible diet and a well-balanced lifestyle. By choosing drier types of wine with lower sugar content, you can easily incorporate the healthiest wines into your regimen.

Turning wine into a spritzer with sugar‑free mixer and sipping water between bites trims calories and may lessen the drink’s immediate impact on blood sugar. Since even the healthiest wine provides sugar and alcohol in any amount, moderation is also key to containing your consumption. 

Red wines are known to have a high concentration of polyphenols, which have been linked to modest cardiovascular benefits in some observational studies. It’s easy to convince yourself that the more wine you drink, the more you’re protecting your health. But limiting your intake will allow you to reap the potential health benefits without risking the health issues that come from overconsumption of alcohol.

How Much Wine Is Healthy?

Considering that wine is an alcoholic beverage by nature, you may be wondering, “Is drinking wine healthy for you?” As with all alcohol consumption, drinking the healthiest wines comes with limits. As outlined by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020-2025, women should limit their intake to one drink a day, while men should consume no more than two drinks a day.

In wine terms, that equals a 5‑ounce glass. Consuming more than this can constitute overdrinking; binge drinking by definition means four or more drinks for women and five or more drinks for men, consumed over a two-hour span. 

Of course, underage or pregnant individuals and anyone with restrictive health conditions should avoid alcohol entirely. You should also consult with your physician before adding wine drinking to your daily habits to make sure it’s safe.

Recommendations will vary based on your physical condition, any medications you’re currently taking and illnesses you may be contending with. When your moderation practices include drinking responsibly and with the necessary medical guidance while keeping your intake below the recommended daily limits, the healthiest wines on the market can become an enjoyable part of your mindful dining practices.

How We Choose The Healthiest Wine

Consultation with Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020-2025 provides the foundation for our choices for the healthiest wines, based on consumption recommendations. We also honed in on the healthiest wines by composition, including antioxidant content and reduced sugar content.

Dry and low-sugar wine options are clear candidates, as they minimize excessive sugar consumption and keep your blood sugar from spiking drastically as you drink. Spritzers, which reduce the wine content by mixing in non-alcoholic mixers, are an easy way to thin out the effects of even the healthiest wines, including limiting the effects of alcohol by trimming the amount of wine in the glass. 

Our guide to the healthiest wine also takes into consideration:

• The healthy contribution of polyphenols found in wine
• The reduced sugar content achieved via grape selection and fermentation process
• Studies that track the effect of moderate wine consumption on heart, brain and digestive health
• The potential for diluted wine beverages to maintain healthful contributions while minimizing alcohol and sugar intake

The 4 Healthiest Types of Wine

1. Dry Red Wine

Dry red wine earns its name as one of the healthiest wines from resveratrol, the plant compound inside grape skins. In test tubes and a handful of small human studies, resveratrol showed anti‑inflammatory activity and nudged cholesterol and blood‑sugar numbers in the right direction.

A glass of wine delivers only a fraction of those research doses, but reds keep the grape skins in the mix longer, so they hold more resveratrol than whites. Early lab work even hints it can slow some cancer cells, though that’s still far from proof in people.

Of the dry reds available, pinot noir is one of your best bets for the healthiest wine to drink, thanks to its high concentrations of resveratrol and low sugar content. Some physicians propose that a five-ounce glass of pinot noir with the lowest ABV (alcohol by volume) is your safest bet for reaping the benefits of the healthiest wine around without taking unnecessary risks with your overall wellness. 

However, it isn’t all rosy with reds being among the healthiest wines you can find. Red wine does contain a high concentration of tannins, compounds that arise from the grape stems, seeds and skins during the fermentation process.

Tannins provide the tart mouthfeel that dry red wines produce, but they may trigger headaches, flushing or other discomfort in sensitive drinkers. Similarly, sulfites — preservatives used in wine-making — can also cause reactions like hives and stomach pain.

Though dry red wine may be among the healthiest wines to buy, you should take your specific needs into consideration before making the choice. If you have a history of red wine reactions or allergies, even drinking the healthiest red wine can cause issues that are easily avoided by opting out of red wine consumption entirely.

2. Low-Sugar Wine

Any beverage with reduced sugar content is the healthy version, which makes low-sugar wine the healthiest type of wine for all wine drinkers to aim for. Many winemakers aim their products at a health-minded audience by creating low-sugar wines. This can mean a slight variation on the usual fermentation process to eliminate as much sugar as possible.

Though it might seem like certain grapes lend to the low-sugar wine effort — and some grapes do indeed contain less sugar that translates into a drier wine — winemakers can produce low-sugar wines with their choice of grapes, providing a range of possibilities for those in search of the healthiest wines in the low-sugar category.

How does a producer remove the natural sugars from wine without upsetting the balance and body of the drink itself? The sugar that remains in the wine after the fermentation process is called residual sugar; low-sugar wines have the lowest possible amount of this residual sugar when it hits the bottle.

Since regulations don’t exist on what constitutes a low-sugar wine, it’s good to know that most brands contain from one to 10 grams of sugar per liter, while higher-sugar wines can contain up to 120 grams per liter. For a wine to qualify as sugar-free, it must contain less than one gram of sugar per liter. Brands like Gratsi, Dry Farm and Medly have mastered the art of sugar-free wine that’s also low in sulfites, giving wine drinkers one of their best bets among the healthiest wines to work into their home bar menu.

Understanding the potential for taking in more sugar than you expect even in your choices for the healthiest wine in the shop can guide you toward a more mindful wine-sipping experience. By sampling lower sugar wines, you can explore the rich variety of drier wine flavors, which helps expand your palate and lessens your taste for sweeter pours. It’s a tricky way in which your taste buds help you acclimate to new options among the healthiest wines to include in your dietary plans.

3. Wine Spritzer

The popularity of the wine spritzer may not help you drink the healthiest wine on the menu, but it will help you drink less wine overall. The secret is using wine as a base that’s enhanced with carbonated water like club soda.

Fresh fruit, herbs or twists of citrus zest lend a tasty layer that turns up the flavor, giving wine drinkers a refreshing blended drink that minimizes the level of alcohol in the glass. It’s a fun and simple way to transform your favorite wine into a sparkling selection that trims both the alcohol and sugar content and offers one of the healthiest wine drinks you can find.

Wine spritzers have undergone a leap in popularity in recent years, creating a market where premade spritzers from brands like Barefoot and Ramona come in pop-top cans for easy enjoyment. With flavors like Blood Orange, Pink Moscato and Ruby Grapefruit, these drier drinks also compete with hard seltzers for your attention and your shopping dollars.

While this makes choosing a spritzer as your healthiest wine of choice more convenient, it also makes overconsumption easier. It’s important to consider these pre-mixed spritzers as the same wine beverage you’d make from scratch and treat them as the limited-consumption item they’re meant to be.

And speaking of making your own wine spritzers, the basic formula uses 0.75 cup of wine mixed with 0.25 cup of club soda. Drop in berries, a lemon or orange twist or even sprigs of basil or mint to make your concoction to add flavor without extra sugar. With a little creativity, you can make this a go-to among your healthiest wine creations for thoughtful refreshment.

4. Dry White Wine

Another lower-sugar version that counts as one of the healthiest wines to buy, dry white wine is lower in residual sugar than sweet varieties, which reduces calories per pour. One study even followed the connections between consuming white wines and Champagne and a lowered risk of sudden cardiac arrest, though researchers noted that overall lifestyle could drive the association.

When shopping for the healthiest dry white wine, you should look for bottles with the lowest ABV.  Since the sugars in grapes become alcohol during fermentation, finding wines with a lower alcohol content will also help you zero in on the driest versions of white wines available. For optimal dry white wines, the sugar content should be under 3 grams per liter, which provides less than 0.5 grams per five-ounce serving of wine.

Any very dry white (less than 3 grams of sugar/L), such as pinot grigio, chardonnay or sauvignon blanc, fits low‑sugar criteria. They’re readily available in most grocery stores and wine shops, with a range of price points to suit a variety of budgets. And because dry white wines include Champagne, choosing a dry (brut) version will allow you to incorporate healthier wine-drinking habits into your most auspicious occasions, from cocktail parties to Sunday brunch.

What Wine Is the Healthiest to Drink?

Despite the presence of antioxidants in the bottle, no wines are actually “healthy” per se. The sugar and alcohol content makes all wine a beverage where moderation makes for the most healthful approach, no matter which bottle you open. Of the select wines that can be considered the healthiest wines overall, dry red wines are considered the least harmful.

The concentration of polyphenols in red wine is higher than that of white wine, thanks to the inclusion of the stems, skins and seeds in the fermentation process. White wines skip most of that contact, so they contain far fewer polyphenols and only trace amounts of other antioxidants — too little to count on for measurable health gains.

If you’re hoping to work the healthiest alcohol to drink into your plans, consider dry red wine as your best bet, with dry white wines and spritzers as solid second-tier choices. By maintaining sensible limits and incorporating wine consumption into an overall healthful diet and active lifestyle, you can enjoy wine while limiting the risks that come with overconsumption of alcohol.

What Is the Unhealthiest Wine?

With so much focus on the healthiest wines you can buy, it’s helpful to know which wines are the unhealthiest of the bunch, too. Naturally, any wine that incorporates extra sugar is an unhealthy choice, no matter what grapes are used.

These wines are usually intended as dessert beverages, a sweet sip to finish off your meal. Avoiding any of these drinks where wine is an ingredient instead of being the entire beverage will help you steer clear of the additional health risks that come with overconsumption of sugar in addition to the alcohol content. 

Similarly, wines that offer a higher alcohol content are clearly some of the unhealthiest wines you can indulge in. Varietals like some zinfandel or shiraz wines can create quicker intoxication, and it’s easy to rack up extra calories.

This additional alcohol content is attributed to the extra sugar contained in the grapes used for creating the wine, leading to alcohol content between 14% and 17%. To maintain habits that include the healthiest wines possible, you should strike these higher ABV wines from your shopping list. 

By far, highly-processed wine drinks that incorporate heavy sweeteners like corn syrup and artificial colors or flavors are off limits when choosing the healthiest wines to sip and savor. Obviously, these go beyond the realm of wine and into mixed drink and cocktail territory. 

Even drinks like sangria, bellinis and mimosas can easily elevate your sugar intake, taking you off-course from your excursion through the healthiest wines for your needs. Unless your wine is served straight or prepared as a simple spritzer-style beverage, count the beverage as one of your unhealthiest wine options and choose something more favorable.    

Narrowing down your choices while choosing the healthiest wine to buy means restricting your shopping to shelves that contain only the lowest sugar and alcohol content. Once you hone in on the best options, you can sample the possibilities among the healthiest wines available to decide which labels work best for your palate and your dietary needs.

By consuming cautiously and working in spritzers to reduce your sugar and alcohol intake even more, you can enjoy the benefits provided by wine without derailing your health ideals. The bottom line is whatever the varietal, any potential benefit hinges on how much you drink. Keep pours small — dose matters far more than the label.

For even more ways to explore your favorite foods, check out other experiences happening on Cozymeal.