A very noob question...

[Skinard]

I have been told that there is no such thing as a stupid question. I know that this isn't true because I have asked and heard a boatload. Not sure about this one but here goes anyway...

What is a "balanced" wine?

 

[Ajmassa]

Lol. Well worded question.
Might be different depending on who ya ask. I’ll take a stab.
The fruit, acid, sweetness, tannin and alcohol working in harmony to compliment one another.
Like if you had a medium bodied 12% abv red wine kit. And bumped up the sugar to make it 14% the alcohol would overpower and not allow tastes to come through like they would at 12%.
Napa wines are expensive because they are high everything- but balanced. 15% abv with enough tannin and acid to make it work perfectly after years of aging. I read the French scoff at Napa adding acid to ensure a balanced wine. But they have to stay balanced.
The French on the other have no need to add acid since those vines are older than God, but will sometimes need to add sugar to make up for their high acid and tannin.
Something out of balance could be tannic, astringent, too sweet, or burning of alcohol- where one aspect gets in the way of the others.

 

[Skinard]

So is much of what is considered balanced determined by taste? That seems rather subjective, but I presume that there must be some kind of fairly objective set of standards? Or are the standards set merely by becoming accustomed to what is considered to be balanced?

Another dumb question. What precisely is meant by the body of a wine? What is the difference between full and medium bodied, for example?

 

[Doug’s wines]

To get you started, Here’s a Link to balance:

https://www.thekitchn.com/wine-words-balance-170792

And a link to body:

https://www.thekitchn.com/wine-word-body-166279

 

[Ajmassa]

Balance is taste. What else would it be? Here’s the UC Davis guidelines for when judges will evaluate wines. Doesn’t answer any questions- but might help understand something.
It’s subjective- to a point. Like your ph could be out of wack yet still taste balanced . And A flawed wine might taste great to someone different. Or perfectly balanced but hazy. Which is why multiple judges evaluate and avg score used.
Body is hard to describe. The overall feel of the wine- the bigness- strength (not abv). —another tough one is ‘mouthfeel’. I take it as not the nose(deep aroma) , not the finish, Somewhere between 1st and 2nd base.

 

[Ajmassa]

 

[Skinard]

Balance is taste. What else would it be?

Well, I did put my question under the context of "stupid", so I guess I am covered..

Thanks for all of the answers. I've just been messing around with making different cheap wines for the past year +. I've learned a bunch but I am also missing alot of the basics regarding what is and how to make better quality wine. I am thinking about buying a high quality kit like a EP Winery or CC showcase and following the instructions precisely to get my feet wet with a better wine. Any suggestions?

 

[Johnd]

Body is hard to describe. The overall feel of the wine- the bigness- strength (not abv). —another tough one is ‘mouthfeel’. I take it as not the nose(deep aroma) , not the finish, Somewhere between 1st and 2nd base.

When tasting, try to think of the body as the combination of senses: power and intensity of the taste, the heaviness of the flavors and components. Bigger bodied wines, generally speaking, are darker, teeth stainers with powerful tastes and aromas that penetrate your nose while the wine is in your mouth, the senses of taste and smell.
The other part of body is mouthfeel: think of mouthfeel more in terms of your sense of touch, texture or viscosity, thickness, how the wine coats your tongue and the surfaces of the inside of the mouth, hence, how it feels in your mouth, as opposed to how it tastes in your mouth.

All of those senses flood into your brain at the same time, and are affected by all we do as winemakers, extraction, tannin structure, astringency, acidity, ABV, etc. all play a part in the game. My simpleton brain can’t evaluate all that info, but knows what it likes, not so hot at picking out all of the little background flavors, and usually requires several sips / bottles. I’ll never think: “stunning nose of acacia flowers, blackberries, licorice, forest floor, mocha/chocolate, and gobs of cassis fruit”, but more along the lines of “that’s some good sh*t”.

 

[mainshipfred]

My simpleton brain can’t evaluate all that info, but knows what it likes, not so hot at picking out all of the little background flavors, and usually requires several sips / bottles. I’ll never think: “stunning nose of acacia flowers, blackberries, licorice, forest floor, mocha/chocolate, and gobs of cassis fruit”, but more along the lines of “that’s some good sh*t”.[/QUOTE]

As far as my taste goes you hit that one on the head.

 

[BernardSmith]

No expert but I think balance means that there is no key component that takes center stage to the detriment of any other component - and the components are as have been suggested: flavor, alcohol level, acidity, tannic level, sweetness, and viscosity (mouthfeel). So sure, this is "subjective" but I think that most people would reach very similar conclusions when tasting a wine about whether the heat of the alcohol over powers the flavor or whether the wine is too acidic for the sweetness and or whether there is too much tannin for the viscosity to give just three examples. Everything needs to be really well integrated and nothing should be stepping on the toes of any other characteristic. Your question is anything but stupid.

Mouthfeel is all about vicosity: How does the wine coat your mouth when you take a sip? Does it flow like water or does the wine coat your mouth and linger. The more viscous the wine the more it will coat your tongue and mouth and the more it coats your mouth the longer it will linger and the more it lingers the more flavors you can expect to taste.

 

[wildhair]

I came across this simple explanation of wine tasting - I sent to my kids and some of my friends to help them evaluate my wines. It explains body and feel and all those terms. They found it helpful, as did I - not being a refined winetaster and overall connoisseur myself.
http://www.bettertastingwine.com/winetasting.html