Calories In Port Wine: Nutrition Facts & Calories vs Other Wines

by Anthony Zhang

Want to know about the calories in Port wine before opening your bottle?

At a standard serving size of 3 oz, a glass of luscious Port wine has around 120-150 calories.

However, the calories vary with the style of Port as well. Let’s take a deeper look at the calories in this fortified wine, its nutrition facts, how calories in Port compare to other wines, and the best way to enjoy Port wine!

Calories In Port Wine

Port wine is primarily a dessert wine produced in Portugal using native grape varieties like Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, and others.

It has a higher sugar and alcohol content than a typical red wine or an alcoholic beverage like beer. It has an average of 16-20% ABV (Alcohol By Volume) with around 100g of residual sugar per liter.

This is because Port is fortified with a distilled spirit (like grape brandy) which leaves the wine with high alcohol level and residual sugar.

Calories in Different Styles of Port Wine

Here’s the approximate calorie count for 3 ounces of different Port styles:

Fun Fact: Although Port is generally a sweet wine, you can also find some dry Ports with fewer calories. However, not every dry wine has fewer calories

Nutrition Facts of Port Wine

Here are the nutrition facts of 3 ounces of Port Wine:

Calorie Content in Other Wines

Wines with high alcohol content have high calorie levels. This is because alcohol has 7 calories per gram, while carbohydrate (sugar) has 4 calories per gram.

So a bottle of low-alcohol sweet wine will have fewer calories than a high-alcohol dry wine.

However, sweet wines with higher alcohol levels, like Port, have both high carbs and alcohol calories.

Therefore, red wine (like Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon), white wine, rose wine, and Champagne (or any other sparkling wine) generally have lower ABV levels and fewer calories than Port wine.

Here is the calorie count for 3 ounces of different wine types:

How to Enjoy Your Port Wine

Port wine makes a perfect aperitif, dessert wine, and even a cooking wine (try the famous Port reduction sauce recipe.)

You can drink this fortified wine with flavored cheese, chocolate dessert, or with potato dishes (like mashed potatoes) and mushrooms.

Its versatile flavor also makes it a perfect ingredient for several cocktails. One of the best Port cocktails is White Port and tonic garnished with lime.

However, as delicious as a Port wine is with food and dessert, remember that it is an alcoholic drink with high sugar. Some may even contain added sugar.

So, practice moderate wine consumption to keep the calorie intake low.