What Gives It Legs?

I was at my wine club a month or so ago and the topic of a wine’s “body” came up. Simply put, what technically gives a wine ‘body’ or ‘legs’? Is it something inherent to certain grapes, is it the age, or perhaps the wine making the process - what are the contributing factors?

Alcohol/Glycerol content.

Less alcohol/Glycerol content or more? What percent for both would produce low/medium/high body?

More alcohol = more legs.

I’m new here, but have a clarifying question. Dave describes legs and body as the same thing, I’ve always thought they were different. Can any experts clarify?

I’m no chemist, but glycerin/glycerol would add weight or ‘body’ to the taste profile, I think. This is ‘Wine 101,’ however because of that there are some muddled terms in the OP. Displaying ‘legs’ is not any true indicator of the body of the wine IMO.

Emile Peynaud’s tome indicates that alcohol = legs.
alan

+1. Davis study too. According to them, glycerol’s effect is so small that it is negligible.

sugar too.

OK, this is a great spot to ask for even more clarification. I’ve been drinking wine for 20+ years about now…and I’ve been collecting & tasting seriously for a good 10 or so. However, to someone with no understanding these answers are still vague as I read them. Can we get a little more concrete in the answers? When looking at say half of the glass after the wine has been swirled around and glass A) has 6 legs formed around half of the glass, Glass B) has five, and glass C) has four. What can be said of those wines to help understand how legs impacts a wine? If I’m reading these answers one might conclude that Glass A) is above 14.5%, Glass B) is 12.5-13.5%, and glass C) is around 9%. Is that how people use this information? If so…how does aging the wine impact that. Given that a 30-40 year old Bordeaux may not have any legs…or only 1 or 2.

Fair enough, but I wasn’t trying to say that glycerol=legs. The question in the OP seemed to equate legs with the body of the wine. The presence of glycerol aside from the ethanol present, would add body, no?

Yes, glycerol is presumed to be an aspect of what people call “body”. Ethanol is as well. My point is that the wine wicking up the side of the glass is mainly due to ethanol. This is related to, but not the same as body, as I see it.

It is possible to have a low alcohol wine (11%) without residual sugar and great legs. Hence, glycerol. At the same time you can have 15% alc. wine without legs, and a 15% with great legs. It has been a question of balance. Glycerol will affect mouthfeel, but less so than pH.

I make a 10.5% alc. technically dry Riesling with tremendous legs. The answer is that both alcohol and glycerol give you legs, it’s not mutually exclusive. My two cents…

Have you done tests, measured, checked the amount of glycerol In a low alc wine with legs vs a low alc wine with less legs?

I have always understood that “legs” are no way to judge a wine. Have I misunderstood?

Why would I? Making tasty wine is my goal.

Not to be contrary… That is my goal as well.

My point is that, in your earlier post, you claim: “The answer is that both alcohol and glycerol give you legs, it’s not mutually exclusive.”

As stated, it sounds as though it is meant to be factual, which I’d assume would be supported by at least some sort of measured observation or comparison.

I don’t have the ref to the UCD study, but it was pretty conclusive. According to them, legs are due to the lower surface tension of etoH vs H2O. Natural produced glycerol was a non-issue in that it made too small of a difference to measure. I wish I had the study handy.

But, it is not that important, since as Michael says, legs are not important to evaluating wine.

Back from the dead!

This are what I’ve been taught as well. Legs simply mean a product has alcohol, plain and simple. Campari has legs. Ardbeg has legs. Vanilla extract has legs. Sure it can give a visual insight into the alcohol content and maybe the body, but I’d rather trust my palate than my eyes.

Regarding body, I don’t know the science behind it. I always equate the body of a wine to the orally perceived viscosity of the wine. The best way explained to me was to think in terms of skim, 2%, and whole milk (sometimes whole cream). Skim is light bodied, 2% is medium bodied, and whole milk or cream is full bodied.

I hope this helps. And if anyone has any info to the contrary I’d love to know. I hate operating based on falsities.

Personally I ignore any wine review that talks about legs.

To be clear, my original post did not inquire about legs and body as criteria for evaluating a wine. I simply was interested in understanding the technical contributors of legs.

No regarding body… I like the analogy to milk, easy to understand and accurate. Question: Does color density (turn a glass on its edge and look how far out the color goes to the edge of the liquid) have an impact on body?