Hi Alyssa:

They’re different concepts but they are interrelated. Let me explain. A wine’s “body” is the weight of the wine on the palate. Wine gets its weight from alcohol. So the more alcohol the wine has, the fuller (weightier) the wine will feel, and thus the fuller its body.

Where does that alcohol come from? Wine gets alcohol from the sugar in the grapes when the wine was harvested. So in a warm region, lots of sugar in the ripening grapes means lots of alcohol which in turn means weight which in turn means a full body.

Texture is different. Texture describes how the wine feels on the palate. Does it feel crisp? Scratchy? Velvety? Texture is the result of a number of factors, only one of which is alcohol. In moderate amounts, alcohol feels smooth on the palate. So wines that are relatively high in alcohol can feel smooth and have a full body. But there are many other factors that contribute to a wine’s texture, including tannin and acidity.

                                 —Karen