My wine breathes, has a nose, body, and legs, but no pulse!
(Part 3, by Raymond R. Wells, Ed.D.)
No, I don’t need a defibrillator. And you don’t need a doctorate to understand these terms as applied to wine.
Continuing our anatomy and physiology of wine, the body:
Body refers to the mouth feel of the wine. It is a rather nebulous term related to texture, weight, thickness, viscosity, and influenced by the concentration of flavors. Although technically, body should only refer to the feel of a wine in the mouth; the intensity of flavors also influences the impression of body. A wine with a high sugar content could feel quite viscous, yet taste of little more than simple syrup. Conversely, a wine could feel thin in the mouth, yet have robust flavors. A light/thin-bodied wine would feel watery and/or lack intensity of flavor. Being light-bodied is not a fault if it is typical of that type of wine. With most seafood and lighter pasta dishes, you would want a wine with good acidity and less intense flavors that do not overpower the food. Examples of wines usually considered light-bodied are: (whites) Muscadet, Frascati, Soave, Pinot Gris, and (reds) Lambrusco, Beaujolais, Dolcetto, etc.
Full-bodied wines are sometimes described as “chewy”, and include (aside from dessert wines): (whites) oaked Chardonnay, Montrachet, Hermitage, and (reds) Cabernet Sauvignon, Rhone varietals, Barolo, etc. Obviously, these wines would overpower lighter foods; and may be considered, by some people, not very pleasant to drink by themselves – especially in hot weather. You might also hear some of these wines referred to as “big”. The term “big” is used for a wine that is particularly high in alcohol and/or intensely flavored.
Medium-bodied wines are all of those wines that fall between light-bodied and full-bodied. There are no clear dividing lines between the categories. There is often disagreement among experienced tasters concerning where a particular wine falls on the body continuum. And finally, typically lighter-bodied wines may sometimes be made in a fuller-bodied style; and typically fuller-bodied wines may sometimes be made in a lighter-bodied style. This is why I rarely refer to the body in my tasting notes; unless I find it to be atypical. It all boils down to the fact that you can’t always trust the label; you just have to taste the wine yourself.
In wine, truth and health!