Body, Structure, Weight, and Balance
Joy Ting
November 2018
“A wine is said to be harmonious when its elements form a pleasing and well proportioned whole” (Emile Peynaud, The Taste of Wine)
Though “harmonious” may be difficult to define or achieve, it may be helpful to examine a few of the elements that affect the perception of body, structure, and weight and how they may come together to achieve balance.
In Enology Notes #108, Zoecklein developed an equation of sorts to describe palate balance:
Sweet ↔ Acid and Phenols
Here, an inverse relationship exists between the perception on one side of the equation and the other so that an increase in perception of sweetness would decrease the perception of acidity, for example. Elements that add to perception of sweetness include ethanol, polysaccharides, and fruit character. These shift the balance the left side of the equation. The right side of the equation is affected by type of acidity (malic vs. lactic in whites), tannin intensity, astringency, bitterness and dry tannins. This coincides well with Peynaud (1997), who says that the less tannic a red wine is, the more acidity it can support while the richer a red wine is in tannin, the less acidity it can handle. Other flavors can interact in this equation such as herbaceous compounds, which shift the balance to the right and ripe fruit or spicy aromas that shift the balance to the left. Any increase in acidity, including volatile acidity, will increase the perception of phenolics as well.
On the subject of body in in wine, Jackson (2014) lists several factors that can contribute to body including aromatic intensity, sweetness, yeast and grape polysaccharides. The effect of aromatics, phenolics and alcohol are dependent on the specific chemicals and levels of each while acidity diminishes the perception of body.
As you taste through your wines, if you notice a lack of balance, be aware of which other elements may help shift things in the right direction, keeping in keep in mind how these elements interact to form “a well proportioned whole”.
References
Jackson, R. S. (2014). Wine science: Principles and applications. London: Elsevier/Academic Press.
Peynaud, E. (1997) The Taste of Wine: The Art and Science of Wine Appreciation. Wine Appreciation Guild
Zoecklein, B. (2005). Red Wine Mouthfeel. Enology Notes, (108). Retrieved October 22, 2018.
