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Today’s episode answers the question, what is full and light body wine? We’ll tackle the weight of the wine on your palate and what makes a balanced body.
WINE OF THE DAY
Gazela Vinho Verde – White Wine
FIND on online.
MATERIALS
Watermelon, lime, honeydew
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Drink wine along with me, Annie, and learn to engage all of your senses in a powerful new way. SUBSCRIBE to the channel to follow along.
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VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
**Thumbnail**
EP_12_ Wine Tasting Terms Body (File Name)
Wine: Vinho Verde
Scent: Honeydew and watermelon
TITLE/SCREEN: DiVino Wine School Animated logo
(Hook) ME in a tight dress. I’m feeling really body conscious today. I hope you are too! Today’s episode is all about the body in wine tasting.
TITLE/SCREEN: “Body Conscious” – Maybe animated or somewhat big and explosive?
Hello again!
TITLE/SCREEN: 21 Days to Wine
TITLE/SCREEN: Day 12: Full and Light Body Wine
Welcome back to DiVino Wine School. I’m Annie, a certified sommelier, who cannot wait to eat lunch… so let’s talk about the body. (walk off)
(walk in)
Today is day 12 – all about body in wine tasting.
TITLE/SCREEN: Day 12: Full and Light Body Wine
If I asked you to give me an example of a big, robust wine in the comments could you do it? Give it a shot. I’m checking all the time!
Once again, wine is just like us. It comes in all shapes and sizes. From light-bodied, to medium-bodied, to full bodied.
TITLE/SCREEN: Wine, it’s just like us. (**Copy US Weekly style)
Your taste is yours, and depending on what you are eating and what you’re in the mood for, there is no perfect body.
TITLE/SCREEN: There is no perfect body.
What there is, is a balanced body. A body that matches the nose, and the color and flavor and the finish.
TITLE/SCREEN: A balanced body matches the nose, the color, the flavor and the finish.
Remember, beauty is harmony.
When we talk about body specifically, we’re describing the way the wine sits on your palate and literally, how it fills your mouth. How it feels.
TITLE/SCREEN: The body is how wine sits on your palate.
If you brought any wine to class today, pour yourself a small glass.
I’ve got Vinho Verde today, along with some common scent notes for this dry, white Portuguese wine, like honeydew and watermelon, and lime.
If you’re doing this at home, take moment to smell those things and see if they show up in your wine.
TITLE/SCREEN: INSERT NAME OF WINE (ANNIE EDIT)
Remember, enrollment is free, and when you do it, you get a head’s up in advance of each lesson so you can smell and taste along with me. The link is in the description.
TITLE/SCREEN: Subscribe & Enroll!
B-ROLL LIKE CRAZY of pouring tasting wine, etc.
TITLE/SCREEN: LOOK
Have a look at the color and consistency. How deep is the color? How opaque? Does it cling to the sides of the glass or wash away?
TITLE/SCREEN: SMELL
How about the nose? Is there a lot going on? Does it smell light and bright or more mature and intense? Depending on the wine, you might already have some idea of what to expect.
Take mine for example. Based just on the color and consistency of this wine, it’s pale, light greenish yellow, and swishes like water in the glass. These light citrus and melon notes do not surprise me.
TITLE/SCREEN: TASTE
Now take a nice long sip. Don’t be shy. Swish it around a little in your mouth. You don’t to do this in public but it’s good for learning.
What do you feel?
TITLE/SCREEN: What do you feel?
With enough practice, determining the body of wine is one of the easier elements of winetasting to master.
TITLE/SCREEN: What is the body?
The body of wine has to do with alcohol and extract.
TITLE/SCREEN: Alcohol and Extract.
Alcohol molecules are more viscous than water molecules, and wine is at LEAST 75 to 80% water. Like our bodies!
Viscosity, in simple science, is a molecule’s ability to hold it together under stress.
TITLE/SCREEN: Viscosity is a molecule’s ability to hold it together under stress.
I know right? Maybe there is something to having a glass of wine to relax?
But seriously, movement, temperature changes… you name it. Alcohol is less susceptible than water, which is why water washes off your palate, and alcohol sticks around longer.
It’s also why water freezes faster and alcohol stays fresh longer. That is viscosity, and you can feel it.
Extract, on the other hand, is everything you get from the grape during winemaking, besides water and alcohol.
TITLE/SCREEN: Extract is everything you get from the grape besides water and alcohol.
It includes a lot of stuff from the skins, like tannins, polyphenols, and acids, along with sugar and glycerol from the juice. All of those elements contribute to the feel and flavor of the wine, so the more intense they are, the fuller body you have.
Imagine a classical California Cabernet made from super ripe and juicy grapes from a sunny climate, swollen up with sugar that transforms into alcohol, leaving you with a pretty intense, high alcohol content, like 14%.
Age it in oak barrels. Are you with me? Have a you had a wine like this? If so, let me know in the comments.
The color is deep ruby red. Lots of color molecules in there weighing it down… That wine is robust. No doubt about it.
*Optional Graphic with Robust vs light-bodied wines with some indicators of polyphenols, alcohol, etc..
Compare that to my light, easy breezy Vinho Verde for example. Which is what I brought today. See the way it splashes around? [BROLL – take some time to show it and taste it].
Vinho Verde translates in Portuguese to “green” or “young” wine.
TITLE/SCREEN: in Portuguese “green” or “young” wine.
Typically these wines are extremely fresh and have a clean and simple nose. They are dry, and pale yellow, so there’s not much sugar or color extract inside.
They can even be a little fizzy, and alcohol is rarely more 11.5%. This is a great example of a light-bodied wine.
Water is the lightest of them all, so you can establish a body spectrum and apply it to every wine you drink.
As yourself, How does the wine feel compared to water when determining body.
TITLE/SCREEN: Ask yourself, how does this wine compare to water?
See you next time. Lucky Day 13! We’ll be talking about the finish – is it long, or short? Don’t worry.
Our journey is far from finished. We’ve got a lot more to cover and I’m sure you have questions. Don’t be shy! Put them in the comments.
TITLE/SCREEN: Ask me anything!
And be sure to subscribe and enroll to find out what we’re tasting and drinking and follow along.
Cheers!
END TITLE/SCREEN: Wine is a language. Learn how to speak it.
