If you are in anyway connected to the weight loss community on social media you will probably have seen a lot of hype about a new selection of wines.
Slimwine was launched in December 2017 offering drinkers a white, red and sparkling wine that contained absolutely no sugar. Yes I said no sugar! It also has absolutely no carbs. This just gets even better! Because of this, its calorie content is much lower than other wines on the market – hence the name Slimwine!
A bit of background!
Slimwine is the brainchild of Paul Anthony Gidley and was launced on 14 December 2017. With the help of backing from Dragons Den James Caan, Paul has in my opinion come up with an amazing product. I also have to say I love the packaging too!
Grapes from a vineyard in Calamandrana, in the Piedmont region of Italy are used to create a selection of white, red and sparkling wine. Soon to the market will also be a pink sparkling wine!
Dan Cusmano is the head Wine Maker over in Italy and he certainly needs a huge pat on the back for his work here!
Sugar is found naturally in grapes but Dan has found a way to extract all the sugar from the wine. In the second fermentation process the live yeast eats the remaining sugar in the wine. How this is done is a secret, and sadly not enough wine i’m sure could be consumed to make them part with this information! The alcohol content is not compromised coming in at 10% ABV, and it doesn’t give you a hangover! Why, because there is 80% less sulphur than normal wine! It just seems to get better and better doesn’t it!
If that isn’t already making you want to rush out and buy it, wait until I tell you its only 412 calories a bottle! Yep you heard it right 412 calories! A full sugar one is usually around 625 calories, so about a third less calories!
To date, the company has sold to an amazing 1500 customers, and i’m proud to say I am one of them!
The Wines
As they say the proof is always in the tasting! My parents always used to say ‘if it sounds too good, it probably is!’. Well not in this case. Its as good as it sounds, in fact even better!
Last night I was privileged to be able to have a tasting session in my own home courtesy of Simon Palmer and his wife Julie who travelled all the way from Chichester.
With a group of friends who between us enjoy Prosecco, red and white wine, we compared all 3 of the wines against our usual full sugar, high calorie alternatives.
Ok lets talk about each of the wines separately, they certainly deserve their own attention!
White Wine
One of my group doesn’t normally like white wine at all and I personally don’t enjoy a Chardonnay these days. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth so I usually go for a nice Pinot! The none white wine drinker liked it! Now that is a good start! Another of my friends ordered 8 bottles and another 6! Now what does that say about it!
This wine is best served cold as with any white wine. It is produced from Sauvignon Blanc so I am now a new convert and my usual Pinot has been replace!. Its very easy to drink and would certainly go well at any dinner party or just sitting around with friends at home. In fact lets be honest, you can just drink this wine anytime!
Price £8.99 a bottle.
Red Wine
I don’t drink much red wine as it leaves my teeth very black due to damage to my enamel from years of sugary antibiotics as a child. My husband on the other hand enjoys a red wine. When I mentioned this wine to him he really wasn’t convinced. A low calorie red wine surely wasn’t going to give him the same enjoyment of his usually full calorie one! Both of us were extremely surprised!
The red is on the lighter side so goes down very nicely. Made from Barbera grapes, it gives a lovely fruity taste. Some red wines can leave a fuzzy feeling in your mouth when you drink it! Probably what causes me to look like a pirate with black teeth when I drink it. This certainly didn’t and my teeth didn’t change colour! Woo hoo!. My husband who really wasn’t convinced before trying it was converted to! He really enjoyed it and said he would never have guessed it was any different in sugar and carb content to his usual red wine.
Red wine normally is served at room temperature, but I think this wine would be amazing chilled too in the summer. I am certainly going to be putting a few in my fridge to drink when we have our first braai of the year (my husband is South African but to us poms that’s a BBQ!).
Again I don’t think this wine should be only enjoyed over a meal. Sunday evenings sat watching Countryfile would work just as well too!
Price – £8.99 a bottle.
Sparkling
Now onto my favourite tipple! Prosecco, along with champagne of course! This little beauty did not disappoint. Its on the dryer side so not sickly sweet. Its bubbles tickle your throat as they go down. It certainly is a wine for any celebration. The fact that it doesn’t give you a hangover too is a bonus.
Made from Champagne grapes, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio its flavours stand out. I really don’t like Chardonnay but this is something very different.
My only negative point is that the bottles don’t fit into my wine rack. On the positive side though that means they will have to stay in my fridges and consumed more frequently ! Well it would be rude not to !
Its price range is certainly appealing at only £10.99 a bottle!
Verdict
If you have any scepticism that a low calorie wine can taste good, you have to try these. None of them disappoint and I guarantee if you did a blind taste you wouldn’t know the difference! Well except on the scales!
Price wise its extremely affordable and sits very nicely with what you would pay for full sugar wines.
There are other low calorie wines on the market including Skinny Prosecco which retails at £18.99 and still has 7g of sugar, so its more expensive and not sugar free! I know where my money is!
At the moment you can only buy this wine online at http://www.slimwine.com but as I order my wine online to be delivered with my Tesco shop, it not a problem for me. They are hoping to get this wine out to the supermarkets though in the future so keep your eyes peeled! Delivery is by DHL so you can be assured it will arrive quickly and safely!
Sadly for us Slimming World members, there isn’t a syn value for the wine yet. Hopefully this will be sorted out soon. I think though if you compare the average calories of a normal bottle of wine to this, even without the syn value being confirmed its going to help you with the scales on weigh in day!
Give it a go. You will won’t be disappointed! I know I’m certainly not going to be drinking anything else!
Thank you Paul Gibley for bringing these great wines to us! I’m now looking forward to trying the pink sparkling wine when its out!
Slimminginspirations4u 