Guide
Why is body so hard without alcohol?
Ethanol was texture, not just a number on the label. After it leaves, sugar, extract, tannin, and bubbles have to do the work it was doing.
Body is the complaint that shows up after sweetness. The wine tastes correct for a second, then the middle of the glass disappears. That hole is the ethanol.
Alcohol was doing physical work
Ethanol is a solvent and it has weight. In a full-strength wine it carries aroma and it gives the liquid a feel that is not sugar and not water. Remove it and two things happen at once. Aromas that were riding in the alcohol get quieter or leave. The liquid itself gets closer to the density of the water and extract that remain.
Producers fill the hole in different ways. Residual sugar and grape concentrate put weight back, and they also make the wine taste sweeter. Tannin, acidity, and bitterness can hold the glass without that sugar. Carbonation can fake some of the lift. None of those is ethanol. Why is non-alcoholic wine so sweet?
What to listen for
A dealcoholized wine with a short, sweet middle is telling you the structure did not survive. A wine that stays dry and still has a finish is telling you something else is doing the work: acid, tannin, or extract. The Oddbird GSM review is the red illustration. Tannin and a dry close, which is what red wine is for once the alcohol is gone.
We do not print a glycerin number, a viscosity, or a “body restored” claim unless a source states it for that bottle. The tasting scale on the review is the editor’s glass. It is not a lab sheet.
Beer has an easier version of this problem, because bitterness and carbonation were already doing a share of the work. Why non-alcoholic beer often tastes closer.