Red Wine

Why red wine is rated low

Red wine is low at about 1 glass (150mL), and no single FODMAP group stands out at that serve, so what builds with more glasses is the overall FODMAP load. Keep to around this serve as your guide. That is a standard glass, but restaurant and home glasses are frequently filled well past it, and a glass that keeps being topped up quietly turns one serving into more than one. The amount rather than the vessel is what the rating is attached to, and a bottle shared across an evening is a different story from the serving on the page. Sipping slowly and pairing the glass with a meal is the easiest way to keep it there.

What changes your risk

• How high the glass is filled The rating covers about 1 glass (150mL). Large balloon glasses and generous restaurant pours often hold noticeably more than that, so the pour is the single biggest variable on this page.
• Quiet top-ups A glass that keeps being refilled never gives you a count. Finishing one pour before accepting another is the practical way to keep track of how many servings have gone by.
• Sangria, mulled wine and spritzers Once wine is mixed with apple juice, pear juice, orange liqueur or honey, the drink carries whatever those add. The serve here describes plain red wine only.
• Sweet, fortified and dessert styles Port, sweet reds and fortified wines are made differently and are not covered by the rating for red wine. Keep them as their own question.
• The meal around it No single FODMAP group stands out in a glass of red wine, so what stacks here is the whole sitting. A glass next to an onion-heavy sauce, garlic bread and a creamy dessert is an evening where the food is carrying the load.

What else works

If you want a second drink without doubling the pour, plain spirits such as gin, vodka and whiskey mixed with soda water are rated separately and are worth looking up on their own pages. Soda water with lime or a splash of orange makes a decent glass to hold between drinks. What the rating for red wine does not extend to: sangria built on apple or pear juice, mulled wine sweetened with honey, dessert and fortified wines, and premixed wine spritzers with fruit syrups. Other wine styles are separate entries rather than stand-ins for this one.

How to keep it low

Measuring once at home is worth the trouble: pour about 1 glass (150mL) into the glass you normally use and note where it sits, because many people are surprised by where the line falls. Using a smaller glass makes the serving look generous rather than mean, which helps more than willpower does. When you are out, a glass poured at the table is an unknown quantity, so ordering by the glass rather than the carafe at least keeps the count visible. Drinking it with the meal, and keeping water on the table so your hand has something else to reach for, keeps the pace steady.

Common questions

how much red wine is low fodmap

About 1 glass (150mL), a standard glass, is low. More glasses add to the overall FODMAP load, and many glasses are filled past that line.

can i drink red wine on the elimination phase

Red wine is low at about 1 glass (150mL). Tolerance is individual, and alcohol can be unsettling for some people separately from its FODMAP content.

is sangria low fodmap

Sangria is usually built on apple or pear juice and sweeteners, so it is not described by the low rating for plain red wine.

does white wine count the same as red wine

This page covers red wine at about 1 glass (150mL). Other wine styles are rated separately and are not covered by this serve.