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I'm diabetic and drink red wine over beer because it doesn't spike my sugars as much, presumably because it contains less carbs. But it's just too strong for me. Does anyone know if any red wines exist around the 5 or 6 % alcohol level, and where I can purchase in the UK? Reduced alcohol options perfectly fine. I quite like Malbec.

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  • In the end I settled on a couple glasses of normal strength red wine and a couple of G&Ts, which seems to be the right balance of enjoyment and strength. I think the slimline tonic in the G&T's helps to hydrate so the next morning I don't feel any bad side effects. And just drinking less red helps too. I can enjoy a low carb few drinks of an evening without a hangover. Cheers.
    – user14268
    Apr 22, 2022 at 6:11

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The amount of sugar in ripe Vitis Vinifera grapes means that, unless you manipulate the process in some way, the finished wine will always be 10% ABV or stronger.

The lowest ABV dry red wine that's readily available in the UK would be Lambrusco Secco, which is usually 11%.

Would you drink red wine mixed with soda water to make a spritzer?

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    Spritzer is a good call +1
    – morsor
    Apr 22, 2022 at 7:31
  • There is actually an 8% red wine available in Asda "Three Mills Reserve Red Wine", at £3.48
    – bigbadmouse
    May 19, 2022 at 10:43
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This may not help you specifically - but for the sake of completeness - there is the light, sweet red wine Brachetto wine which typically is around 5-6%. There is, however, a considerable amount of residual sugar.

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Theoretically the amount of alcohol is dependent on when the winemaker stops fermentation. If the winemaker stops fermentation early, which can be achieved by methods such as cooling down the fermentation tank, then the wine can have less alcohol content; it's usually sweeter though because there are residual sugars, which probably isn't very beneficial to your case... :(

For example, Moscato d'Asti is a delicious sweet sparkling wine that can be around 5-7% alcohol.

There is, however, a whole world of 0 or close-to-zero alcohol wines, such as

Because they have less alcohol, they often have less body and complexity than wine with alcohol. But hey, maybe you might like them.

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I've searched and haven't found any. There are non-alcoholic wines so you could mix one of those 1 to 1 with a regular wine to get around a 6% ABV. Taste might be an issue.

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  • I was going to try that, I'll let you know how it goes. Already bought Sainsbury's aromatic 0% wine in readiness, but unfortunately then realised it's 7g carbs per glass which is higher than I wanted. I will discover right combinations eventually and report back. I've bought a stainless steel funnel so I'm all set.
    – user14268
    Jan 29, 2022 at 16:33
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    Good luck. It might be more satisfying to just drink good wine, but less of it.
    – Eric S
    Jan 29, 2022 at 16:51

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