defining 'body' in wine

After full bodied, you're in goop territory.

dont forget, medium-to-light bodied, medium-to-full bodied, etc...

the old scale still applies, its all relative

How does the weight of the wine feel in your mouth when tasting it? Vintage, year, varietal ect...

Describe it as having the viscosity of something else, rather than the non-illustrative, nebulous "full-bodied," etc.

quote:

Originally posted by M.DeVan:
light, medium, and full, don't seem to cut the cheeese anymore... with alcohol levels, glycerin, and extraction on the increase, the old scale no longer applies. What are some terms/descripters that you use to differentiate between wines with differing weights/bodies/viscosities? The old winebooks describe Pinot Noir as light, but regardless of varietal, yields per acre below 2 tons seem to create full bodied everything.

I agree that for red wines, especially, it's becoming increasingly more common to find higher alcohol and fuller bodied wines. I'm not sure that extraction is really part of that, though. I think higher extraction generally results in more intense flavours and longer finish but not necessarily greater weight in the mouth.

There are still wines that are quite light-bodied but that have a very long finish. I'm thinking particulary of the some the German Rieslings that I've had-- light on the palate, long on the finish. Fritz Haag produces wines like that quite regularly. Among reds, there are still some Chiantis that are [relatively] light to medium-bodied.

I think this is an interesting question, DeVan. I'm looking forward to reading more responses.

Viscous, rich and full seem to be the common in my red vocabulary lately, but I usually try to break it down as need be. Supporting structure such as alc, acid and tannin are needed for balance, it's good to note these as well for new-world styled 'good' wines.

A quick comment on "extraction":

I see this term used wrong about 90% of the time. Many people use it synonymously with "concentration" - that is, referring to the degree to which a wine seems to have less "water" and more of everything else. Which seems logical, because we think of "extracted" as meaning having excess water taken out.

But properly used, "extraction" only refers to phenolic compounds taken from grape skins. So "extracted" is really just a fancy way of saying "tannic", nothing else. A wine that's high in alchohol and tastes very rich, dense & fruity, but lacks tannin, is not "highly extracted", even though many might use that term.

So for the sake of staying on topic, extraction doesn't really have much to do with body.

I have almost always seen the term "extracted" used to define density of flavor. Usually by people who are significantly more expert than I. Could this be another example of a word's meaning being changed to fit a particular purpose?

PH

thank you for all of the good input and information on extraction; would phenolic compounds increase viscosity? It seems like extraction would cover anything that was extracted from the rough material (stem,pip,skin,). Also, when Valpolicella is passed over the dregs of Amarone, would that process be considered an extraction? It seems to increase the concentration, flavors, and body, as well. I'm going to have to dig through the books and do some research

Seaquam- Good post!
You mentioned that white wines didn't seem to be increasing in alc. as much as reds...
Lots of Chardonnays tend to be bullying New World Viognier out of the big/oily category with 14% plus alc... Dumol, Martinelli, Leeuwin, Morgan, Rosenblum always LOL,
I too look forward to following this thread; the longer I stay here, the more I realize that you and the others posting (for the most part), make up the heartbeat of educated/enthused wine lovers everywhere. Remember that music video with the little girl in a bumblebee outfit; wandering around the city without anyone to play with? When she finds the other bumblebee freaks in the field at the end.... that is this place.