Wine Terms: Fat Wine

Fat wine is a reference to the fullness of it and its acidity. A full bodied red wine is heavy on the tongue and the taste lingers. A flabby white wine has too little acidity, and it comes off as flat. I like to think of fat as having the PHAT (pretty hot and tempting) connotation versus flabby, not very attractive. Red wines are typically more full bodied than white wines .

A Cabernet Sauvignon and a Pinot Noir are good opposites in that regard.

If you prefer whites, try comparing a Pinot Grigio to a Chardonnay. The Pinot in each of these cases doesn't hang around in your mouth the way that the Chardonnay and the Cabernet do.

Another great example that I took from "Great Wine Made Simple," by Andrea Immer, is to compare:

-Nonfat milk (Pinot Noir or Pinot Grigio)
-Whole milk
-Cream (Chardonnay or Cabernet Sauvignon)

You don't even have to go through the test to understand what heavy and full bodied means. Cream almost drips down your throat, while nonfat milk definitely flows.

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