After hearing on my local news this morning the hype about this wine, in particular, no calories… I opted to do a bit of research. Looking at the website I read “The worlds ONLY naturally sweetened wine”. Hearing also and reading on the web that this is also a 0 calorie wine, of course I had to look further.
There is a scientific page I located and after asking further questions of the author, along with the web search several issues just don't make sense. One of the sites I visited was a weight watching site, where the folks were very eager to purchase and consume thinking this was indeed a no calorie, no sugar product. Being a middle age woman and also a winemaker, I had to look further.
A bit of background as I have found it - They say that the wine is made from “vinifera” (wine grapes) which naturally have sugar, and that they ferment (turn the sugar into alcohol, by introducing yeast, that in turn, use the sugar to convert to alcohol)…. once they ferment (use all the sugar) they then add back a sugar substitute to make the wine more pallatable (taste better).
First of all, alcohol does have CALORIES, so please do not assume this is a free beverage. They also say on thier web site that Slender is the “Worlds only naturally sweetened wine”. Many of us in the wine industry, in fact most of us, prefer to stop the fermentation process at a level of sweetness that best balances the wine. Therefore, this is certainly NOT the only wine in the world that is naturally sweetened, in fact, quite the opposite, this is very unatrual as far as Mother Nature is concerned.
My last thought is that if indeed they make a red wine, which I believe they do, most red wines, i.e, Cabernet, Pinot Noir, Syrah are fermented (turned into alcohol) dry. This means there is no remaining sugar. If this is the case, does that mean most red wines are calorie free ? Not a bit.
Please, before you assume it's safe for you or your diet, look a bit further.