White wine: carbon footprint per kg (about one litre)
Live factor value
1.5 kgCO2e per kg (about one litre)
Source: Agribalyse (ADEME/INRAE, France), 3.1 (revision 1). Factor set agribalyse-3.1-r1.
Dry white wine sits close to red in Agribalyse — the live figure is below. The vineyard, the fermentation and the bottle are much the same; what differs is at the edges, in temperature-controlled fermentation and in the refrigeration that white wine gets and red largely does not.
Sparkling wine is the outlier in this family. The second fermentation, the longer ageing and the much heavier pressure-rated bottle all add up, and Agribalyse's sparkling entries carry visibly larger figures than the still whites. If you are choosing on footprint, still versus sparkling moves more than red versus white.
Worked example
A 750 ml bottle of dry white wine: 0.75 × 1.5 = 1.1 kgCO2e.
Measure your own with the free food calculator.
Frequently asked questions
- Is white wine higher-carbon than red?
- The two sit close together in Agribalyse. White carries a little more cooling — both in the winery and in the shop — while the vineyard and the bottle are comparable.
- Why is sparkling wine higher?
- A second fermentation, longer ageing and a much heavier bottle built to hold pressure. Agribalyse's sparkling figures are clearly above the still whites.