If you’re talking about wine, the answer is yes.
Pick up a copy of the National Enquirer (only to read in the grocery checkout line, of course) and you get your fill of “body” talk: body image, body contouring, body shape, body issues. It’s enough to drive a girl to drink. Come to think of it, let’s turn that discussion of “body” to wine.
Much ado is made about a wine’s body. It’s not a comment about the wine’s quality – rather a description of its style. Body is the perception of fullness or texture in your mouth due primarily to the wine’s alcohol. The more potent the wine, the more full-bodied it will be. A full-bodied wine doesn’t actually weigh any more than a light-bodied one, but it feels heavier in your mouth. At the other end of the spectrum, a wine that lacks sufficient body is described as watery or thin. (Don’t get us started on all the chatter about “thin.”)
You might have a personal preference about a wine’s body. Do you gravitate to a light bodied Pinot Grigio that you can easily quaff at a summer picnic? Or do you favor the seriousness of a full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon that you can savor over an entire evening?
While a wine’s body is influenced by the grape it’s made from, the winemaker has ultimate control. For example, she can take a Chardonnay grape that might produce a lighter-bodied wine and, by aging it in oak or increasing the alcohol content through fermentation, produce a fuller-bodied wine.
If you’d like to choose a wine according to its body style, we thought we’d share our list of less common varietals that you can take with you when you head to your favorite wine store.
| My Body Type | Try These Wines |
| Light-Bodied | White: Albariño, Muscadet, Orvieto, Soave, Vinho Verde Red: Beaujolais, Dolcetto, Gamay, Grenache, Valpolicella |
| Medium-Bodied | White: Chenin Blanc, Pouilly-Fumé, Sancerre, Verdejo Red: Barbera, Carménère, Malbec, Merlot, Sangiovese, Tempranillo |
| Full-Bodied | White: Marsanne, Roussanne, Semillon, Torrontés, Viognier Red: Amarone, Barolo, Mourvèdre, Nebbiolo, Petit Sirah |