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Swaps for Red wine

Red wine is 85 kcal, 0.1 g protein and 0.0 g fibre per 100 g. Here are the 104 alternatives in drinks that beat it on at least one of those, with the difference for each.

85kcal per 100 g

0.1 gprotein per 100 g

104alternatives found

DrinksTypical portion: 1 glass (5 oz)125 kcal per portion

Where red wine sits in its own category

The median food in drinks is 49 kcal per 100 g. Red wine is 36 kcal above that, so it is at the heavier end of its own shelf before any swap is considered. A typical portion of 1 glass (5 oz) weighs about 147 g and carries 125 kcal, 0.1 g of protein and 0.0 g of fibre. Every difference below is applied to that same portion, so the tables compare like with like.

Lower in calories

Ranked lightest first. Portion column uses the same 147 g portion as red wine.
Alternative	kcal/100 g	vs Red wine	Protein	kcal saved per portion
Black tea	1	−84	0.0	−123
Coffee	1	−84	0.1	−123
Chamomile tea	1	−84	0.0	−123
Citrus green tea	1	−84	0.0	−123
Green tea	1	−84	0.2	−123
Herbal tea	1	−84	0.0	−123
Oolong tea	1	−84	0.0	−123
Peach black tea	1	−84	0.0	−123
Black coffee	2	−83	0.3	−122
Diet lemon tea	2	−83	0.0	−122

Swapping to the lightest of these 3 times a week is about 370 kcal a week and 19 263 kcal a year, holding everything else constant. That last clause is doing a lot of work: appetite, portion size and what you eat later all move, and none of that is in this multiplication. Read it as the size of the lever, not as a forecast of anything about your body.

Higher in protein

Ranked by protein per 100 g. The "kcal per g protein" column is the cost of that protein in energy — lower is denser.
Alternative	Protein/100 g	vs Red wine	kcal/100 g	kcal per g protein	Protein per portion
Protein shake	6.6	+6.5	61	9	9.7
Cytosport Muscle Milk	5.9	+5.8	52	9	8.7
Natural malted drink	3.9	+3.8	88	23	5.7
Chocolate malted drink	3.4	+3.3	85	25	5.0
Vanilla milkshake (fast food)	3.4	+3.3	148	44	5.0
Slimfast meal replacement	3.3	+3.2	57	17	4.9
Flat white	3.0	+2.9	55	18	4.4
Latte	3.0	+2.9	60	20	4.4
Mocha	3.0	+2.9	80	27	4.4
Strawberry flavored beverage	3.0	+2.9	88	29	4.4

Red wine costs 850 kcal per gram of protein. That ratio is usually more useful than the protein column on its own, because a food can be high in protein and high in everything else at the same time.

Higher in fibre

Ranked by fibre per 100 g. The last two columns show how much fibre the energy buys you.
Alternative	Fibre/100 g	vs Red wine	kcal/100 g	Fibre per 100 kcal	Fibre per portion
Slimfast meal replacement	1.6	+1.6	57	2.8	2.4
Acai berry drink	1.2	+1.2	62	1.9	1.8
Vanilla milkshake (fast food)	0.9	+0.9	148	0.6	1.3
Chocolate malted drink	0.5	+0.5	85	0.6	0.7
Mocha	0.5	+0.5	80	0.6	0.7
Chocolate almond milk	0.4	+0.4	50	0.8	0.6
Protein shake	0.4	+0.4	61	0.7	0.6
Vanilla almond milk	0.4	+0.4	38	1.1	0.6
Pina colada	0.3	+0.3	174	0.2	0.4

How a swap is worked out

A swap here is a comparison, not a recommendation. For any food, the page takes every other food in the same category of the database and sorts it three ways: lower energy per 100 g, higher protein per 100 g, and higher fibre per 100 g. Each table shows the alternative’s own figure and the difference against the food you started with, so you can see the size of the change rather than a verdict.

Staying inside one category is what makes the comparison mean anything. Swapping a cheese for a cucumber saves a lot of calories and does not replace the cheese; swapping a cheese for a lighter cheese might. The category boundary is the database’s own, and every alternative links to its full page so you can check the numbers rather than take them from a table.

The candidate list is filtered mechanically to plainly-named foods: no comma in the name, at most three words in the identifier, and no cooking, canning, drying or reconstitution qualifier. That removes the long laboratory variants of the same food and leaves the entries you would recognise in a shop. It also means a swap table is a subset of the category, not all of it.

The weekly arithmetic is deliberately plain multiplication. A saving per portion, times three times a week, times fifty-two weeks. It is what the numbers say, and it assumes you change nothing else — which is exactly the assumption that usually fails in practice.

These are per-100 g database averages for whole foods, not a diet plan. Energy is only one property of a food: protein, fibre, salt, cost, satiety and whether you will actually eat it all matter, and none of them is settled by a calorie column. Nothing here is medical or dietary advice and nothing here is a diagnosis. If you are managing a condition, an allergy or a prescribed diet, speak to a clinician or a registered dietitian.

Source: USDA FoodData Central SR Legacy family — per-100 g values for Red wine and every alternative above · checked 2026-09-02

Other swap pages

Black tea

1 kcal, 0.0 g protein and 0.0 g fibre per 100 g.

Coffee

1 kcal, 0.1 g protein and 0.0 g fibre per 100 g.

All swap pages · Full nutrition for red wine

Frequently asked questions

What can I eat instead of red wine?

The lightest comparable food in drinks is black tea at 1 kcal per 100 g, which is 84 kcal less than red wine. On a 147 g portion that is a difference of 123 kcal.

What would swapping three times a week add up to?

About 370 kcal a week and 19 263 kcal a year, if you made that one substitution 3 times a week and changed nothing else. It is multiplication, not a prediction about your body weight.

Are these the only alternatives?

They are the plainly-named foods in the drinks category of this database — 120 candidates in total, of which 104 beat red wine on energy, protein or fibre. Cooked, canned and dried variants are deliberately left out of the tables to keep them readable.

A swap only counts if you make it

Log both versions in TempoLife for a fortnight and the difference shows up in your own numbers rather than in a table.

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