The world of wine has reached peak health trendiness: An English company called Thomson & Scott has created “Skinny Prosecco” and “Skinny Champagne,” which claim to be healthier than the regular stuff thanks to less added sugar.
It’s been hailed as “the basic bitch drink of summer 2016” by the Guardian, and “basically a health food” by Cosmopolitan. In the words of CEO and founder Amanda Thomson, Thomson & Scott has “technically created a whole new sector in the drinks business.” You know, a new sector, just like how Mountain Dew Code Red created a whole new sector in the soda business in 2013.
“My mission is to be completely open about what we’re drinking and cut sugar where it’s not needed,” Thomson writes on her website. “We’re not counting calories, but we share them for transparency. My mission is for us to ask why we can’t drink better and cleaner.”
You know what else advertises that it has no added sugar? Gik blue wine.
Both of Thomson & Scott’s products are currently only available in the UK, where the prosecco has made quite a splash. There is clearly a market for “a portfolio of Champagne and prosecco for the next generation of wine lovers globally who want something delicious and also want to know what’s in their bottle.”
So what is in their bottle? Well, to start with, all prosecco and Champagne are on the lower side of added sugars (if you go with Brut, at least). A typical glass of prosecco has around 80 calories and 12 to 15 grams of sugar per liter, the Independent notes. Thomson’s prosecco claims to have seven grams of sugar per liter. A liter is around six and a half glasses of wine, so each glass of dry prosecco has about two grams of sugar versus the approximately one gram of sugar in Skinny Prosecco.
According to the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, Veuve Cliquot Brut Champagne has nine grams of sugar per liter.
So there you have it. If you live in the UK, you can get skinny by consuming around one less gram of sugar per glass. Toast up.
