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A common question I receive from my wine students is to explain wine "legs", a mythical indicator of wine quality. In wine, “legs” refer to the way that wine swirled in a glass runs down the inside surface.
How It Work
Fill a wine glass one quarter full and gently move the glass in a circular motion so that the wine swirls up the sides. Hold the glass still and look at the wine as it runs down. It may flow down in a fairly even sheet, or it may pull into more concentrated streaks. These legs, or tears as the French refer to them, are the streaks of wine.
What It Means
Once upon a time, these legs were interpreted as the sure sign of a rich, high-quality wine. While some people believe that the presence and thickness of legs relates to the sweetness, viscosity or quality of wine, none of these is correct.Today, we know that a wine's legs are a complicated phenomenon having to do with the surface tension of the wine, and the evaporation rate of the wine's alcohol. Because a wine’s “body” is affected by the alcohol content, there is some relationship between legs and body, but there are so many other factors involved that legs are a poor indicator of quality.
Give It A Try
Still not convinced that it's physics and not quality that drives this phenomenon? Try covering your next glass of wine and see if the legs present decrease when covered compared to when open. What you'll find is no evaporation, no legs. This is because the air inside the glass contains enough alcohol vapor to prevent more from evaporating and the formation of legs stops. Uncover the glass and legs will start to form again.
Swirl Away
If this is true then why do wine lovers still swirl their wine? Because it helps to release aromas which in turn makes tasting and smelling the wine easier. Swirling also increases oxygenation of the wine, which in turn affects the flavor, so swirl away!
