Mulled wine calories: homemade, with honey, sugar-free and alcohol-free
Homemade mulled wine from a bottle of dry red wine without sugar provides about 63 kcal per 100 ml, with two spoons of sugar about 86, with four about 108. A 200 ml mug comes to 127–215 kcal. Calories are almost entirely down to the wine and the sugar; heating without boiling removes only a small part of the alcohol.
Where the calories come from
Dry red wine has 76 kcal per 100 ml, about 75 of them from alcohol: 10.7 g of ethanol per 100 ml. The data come from the British food composition table CoFID, entry 17-752 "Wine, red". A 0.75 l bottle is 570 kcal and about 80 g of ethanol.
Sugar adds 399 kcal per 100 g, honey 329 kcal. A tablespoon of sugar weighs about 25 g, of honey about 30 g. Cinnamon, cloves and star anise add almost no calories, and neither do orange slices unless you eat them.
Calories in homemade mulled wine
The calculation below is for a bottle of dry red wine and 150 ml of water, about 900 ml of drink.
| Sweetened with | Whole pan | Per 100 ml | 200 ml mug | 300 ml mug |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No sugar | 570 | 63 | 127 | 190 |
| 2 tbsp sugar (50 g) | 770 | 86 | 171 | 257 |
| 3 tbsp honey (90 g) | 866 | 96 | 192 | 289 |
| 4 tbsp sugar (100 g) | 969 | 108 | 215 | 323 |
Every extra 25 g of sugar per pan adds about 22 kcal to a 200 ml mug. Without water the drink is stronger and higher in calories: the same bottle without sugar gives 76 kcal per 100 ml.
Ready-made sweet mulled wine and glögg are usually higher in calories than homemade — the FoodGPT alcohol calculator uses 130 kcal per 100 ml for it. If the bottle has a nutrition table, count from that.
How much alcohol is lost when heating
Less than people think. According to the USDA Table of Nutrient Retention Factors, when alcohol is added to a hot liquid and removed from the heat, 85% of it remains. After 15 minutes of simmering, 40% remains; after 30 minutes, 35%.
Mulled wine is heated but not boiled, so it is closer to the first case. If 85% of the alcohol remains, a 200 ml mug has about 20 kcal fewer than in the table above, and about 15 g of ethanol — one and a half standard 10 g drinks. What a standard drink is is covered in the article on standard drink sizes.
Do not drive after a mug of mulled wine, just as you would not after a glass of wine.
Alcohol-free mulled wine
The alcohol-free version is usually made with juice. Apple juice has 46 kcal per 100 g, and a one-litre carton weighs about 1,050 g — about 480 kcal. With 150 ml of water and no sugar that comes to about 42 kcal per 100 ml and 84 kcal per 200 ml mug. Each spoon of sugar adds about as much as in the wine version.
Mulled wine made with alcohol-free wine is counted from that wine's label: its calories depend on residual sugar. More in the article on alcohol-free wine.
How to fit mulled wine into your day
A mug of homemade mulled wine with sugar is 170–215 kcal. Most of the calories usually come not from the first mug but from the second and third, and from what is eaten alongside: gingerbread, cheese, pastries. Calories in other drinks are covered in the article on calories in alcohol.
FoodGPT counts the mug and the snacks on the table from a photo. If the mulled wine is homemade, say in the note how much sugar went into the bottle — that decides a third of the calories.
Frequently asked questions
- How many calories are in mulled wine per 100 ml?
- Homemade mulled wine from dry red wine with a little water provides about 63 kcal per 100 ml without sugar, about 86 with 50 g of sugar per bottle and about 108 with 100 g. Ready-made mulled wine is usually higher — about 130 kcal per 100 ml.
- How many calories are in a mug of mulled wine?
- A 200 ml mug of homemade mulled wine has from 127 kcal without sugar to 215 kcal if 100 g of sugar went into the bottle. A 300 ml mug has one and a half times as much.
- Does the alcohol evaporate from mulled wine?
- Only partly. According to the USDA table, alcohol added to a hot liquid and removed from the heat retains 85%, and even after 15 minutes of simmering 40% remains. Mulled wine is not boiled, so it keeps almost as much alcohol as the wine.
- How many calories are in alcohol-free mulled wine?
- Made with apple juice, a little water and no sugar, about 42 kcal per 100 ml and 84 kcal per 200 ml mug. Sugar and honey add calories the same way as in the wine version.
- Which has more calories in mulled wine — sugar or honey?
- Per 100 g honey is actually lower: 329 kcal against 399 for sugar. But a tablespoon of honey is heavier — about 30 g against 25 g — so a spoon of honey and a spoon of sugar give almost the same, about 100 kcal.
Read next
- Calories in alcohol: how many calories are in beer, wine, and spirits — Alcohol is the only category that almost everyone skips when counting calories.
- The alcohol calorie calculator: grams of ethanol and a standard drink of 8, 10 or 14 g — The alcohol calorie calculator shows two numbers: the energy in what you drank and the grams of pure ethanol.
- Holiday table: where do the calories in Olivier and herring under a fur coat come from — Olivier salad does not have one correct number: one cook's version may have twice as many calories as another's, despite using the same ingredients.
This article is for general information. It is not medical advice, a diagnosis, or a prescription for treatment or a diet, and it does not replace a consultation with your doctor. If you have a health condition, are pregnant, take medication, or follow a diet prescribed to you, decisions about food belong with your doctor.
Figures from regulations, guidelines and studies are given as they stood when this article was prepared and may since have changed; check them against the primary sources. This article is not advertising, an offer, or individual advice, and neither the author nor the site owner is responsible for decisions taken on the basis of it.