The body and sweetness or dryness of a Riesling can vary from region to region and winery practices to winery practices. Germany makes every style of Riesling and those that tend towards the fuller bodied and dryer qualities may be labelled under . Other regions the practice in producing a fuller bodied and dryer wine are some out of Alsace, most out of Austria and California’s smaller wineries may dabble in the dryer variety. In white wines, certain winemaking techniques, such as leaving the wine on its lees after fermentation, as well as bâtonnage also add weight to a wine.

Essentially, this lingo is a way to suggest the mouthfeel, alcohol content, and boldness of a type of wine, not the price or quality. Even though between 71% and 73% of Millennials drink beer, wine, or liquor, few know how to tell whether a glass of wine is light or full bodied. Here’s a guide regarding the differences between full bodied wines, medium bodied wines, and light bodied wines so you can make the best decision when you order wine online. Light-bodied wines have almost no viscosity and tend to be more delicate and refreshing. There tends to be a crispness in light-bodied white wines, whereas light-bodied red wines are fresh and easy drinking.

These wines are light and delicate on the palate making them ever popular during summer months for their crisp and refreshing personality. As a wine lover, you come to number one selling beer appreciate the intensity and complexity of certain wines as you taste them for the first time. These grapes are often full of tannin and structure-building phenolics.

Malolactic Fermentation After the wine is fermented, an additional process called Malo-lactic fermentation will increase the texture. MLF is when a special type of bacteria called oenococcus oeni eats one type of acid and poops out a different kind. Malic acid is the same acid that is in apples and this is what O. Lactic acid is smooth, like the creaminess of whole milk, and this is the byproduct. If you’re trying to find new favorites, wine body is a great way to differentiate grape varieties to find your style preference. Let’s break down the different body styles with a few examples so you can find more of what you love.

For example, a Merlot with lower alcohol (under 14%) and less oak-aging may also be medium-bodied. When looking at wine, it is the sugar in the grapes that gets converted to alcohol. So the higher the sugar in the grapes, the higher the alcohol can be.

This is why we call a heavily viscous wine full-bodied and a low viscosity wine light-bodied. Oak esters and tannin help balance out the harshness of a wine, and they also add body. The newer the oak barrels, the more it will affect the characteristics of the wine being aged. Newer oak barrels are sometimes torched with a fire, which caramelizes the oak, and may even turn some of the oak into charcoal. Some winemakers will utilize a specific technique to make a wine have a fuller body.

A full-bodied red wine definition would be a red wine that is thick, heavy, and has a mouthfeel of viscous. If you are choosing a full-bodied red wine, choose older wines. To better understand wine, it helps to know some basic categories. Here we’ll share the difference between light-, medium-, and full-bodied red wines . Riesling wines originate in Germany, have expanded worldwide and can span a broad range of styles.