Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The way that a food or drink feels in the mouth, being primarily a response to texture but also to flavor.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The texture of food or drink as perceived by the mouth.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

mouth +‎ feel

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Examples

  • The mouthfeel is faintly oily on the mid-palate but still lively with a tingle of acidity on a long, melony finish.

    The New York Cork Report: 2009

  • For me the mouthfeel is just right for the weight of this light to medium bodied wine.

    Red, With Envy: Assessing 2007 Finger Lakes Reds 2009

  • It doesn't have much of the oily, glycerin mouthfeel I've found in many of the Viogniers I've tasted, but with so much acidity in its youth, one wonders if it will reveal itself with another year or two in bottle.

    Wine Blogging Wednesday 2009

  • Bone dry and light-to-medium bodied, the mouthfeel is lively with great acidity.

    Heron Hill Winery 2005 Riesling Reserve 2008

  • It doesn't have much of the oily, glycerin mouthfeel I've found in many of the Viogniers I've tasted, but with so much acidity in its youth, one wonders if it will reveal itself with another year or two in bottle.

    LENNDEVOURS: 2008

  • It doesn't have much of the oily, glycerin mouthfeel I've found in many of the Viogniers I've tasted, but with so much acidity in its youth, one wonders if it will reveal itself with another year or two in bottle.

    WBW #46: Martha Clara Vineyards 2007 Viognier 2008

  • Bone dry and light-to-medium bodied, the mouthfeel is lively with great acidity.

    LENNDEVOURS: 2008

  • Where LiV Vodka excels is in its mouthfeel, which is creamy and extremely smooth.

    Long Island Vodka: LiV Vodka 2008

  • Initially, the mouthfeel was a balance between rich-creaminess and crisp-freshness - along the lines of the Stuhlmuller & Mer Soleil Silver and so, a crowd-pleaser.

    CellarTracker Tasting Notes (all notes) 2010

  • Faux gourmets can always sound knowledgable by saying something has good "mouthfeel"

    Blizzard of Odd: Pedaling to the Bitter End BikeSnobNYC 2010

Comments

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  • what the heck is this word

    November 30, 2011

  • During the 1970s I was the editor of a trade journal published in London, entitled 'The Flavour Industry', which later vaingloriously advanced itself to 'International Flavours and Food Additives', although its implicit claim to have moved outside the boundaries of the UK was, to say the least, spurious. The relation of mouthfeel to impressions of dryness, graininess, mouthcoating and viscosity sums up the range of perceptions pretty well. However we need to distinguish between the mouthfeel of liquids and of semisolids,which is immediately perceptible (Coke and champagne, Pepsi and Perrier, and clear soup and custard offer interesting comparisons and contrasts) and of solid foods like meat, fruit and bread, which must be mixed with saliva and chewed to give a changing mouthfeel to the food being chewed until it reaches a consistency that is felt to be suitable for swallowing. A whole range of mouthfeel sensations is found in the practice of diagnostic wine tasting, where dryness means lack of sugar, puckering is the reaction of the mouth to excessive acidity and tannin, and mouthcoating and viscosity must be translated, in the tasting of wine to be laid down or further matured, into estimates of acidity, sugar levels, tannin, and “body”, and potential for improving with age. MSG is an example of a food additive that improves mouthfeel as well as being a flavour enhancer. We must not forget too the importance of ones ears as well as the impact between ones teeth and the food in the crunching of nuts, celery, crisp biscuits, crackers, cornflakes - and toast!

    November 30, 2011

  • Very interesting comment, especially that last sentence. You're dead right that the crunchiness of toast - including the sound of the crunch - is an integral part of the experience of eating it. The same applies to the crunching, cracking sound of biting into an apple. This is amplified when you listen to a horse, with its outsized chompers, eating an apple - the whole thing pretty much explodes at once.

    November 30, 2011

  • The mouthfeel and sound of Jordan almonds breaking that molar one had filled as a child is quite unforgetable. The crunching and breaking sounds resonate through the jaw and into the inner ear, using the brain pan as a sounding board.

    November 30, 2011

  • The following comment on a French red wine describes it as full-bodied, which is clearly a perception derived from the mouthfeel. "Although the alcohol % is only 13.5 I would normally describe this Madiran as full-bodied, more to do with the tannat grape than the strength of the wine.It is a hearty red & quite rich in flavour.Personally I would give the 2004 another 2 years to soften the tannins more.

    December 6, 2011