CT notes with the descriptor "legs"

[A_So]

@c fu

I’m a human stop watch

Yes, but are you also a thermometer?

[GregT]

@Alan Rath

While I notice the legs, and understand what causes them, I never mention them in tasting notes. But let me ask, why are legs any less interesting to note than color? Much of the time color is not a very good indicator of anything about a wine, yet you see people talk about it commonly, often describing how the color fades at the rims (of course, because there is a shorter path for light to be absorbed, so why mention it?).

Rath has been on a roll lately, at least insofar as me agreeing with him! Great point. I never understood why people talk about color. In some cases it indicates age. In other cases it doesn’t. And if the wine is made from red grapes, it’s going to be something from purple to red to brick-red, depending on how old it is and how that particular wine happens to age.

And “legs” are at least as uninteresting. In addition to the factors mentioned, the shape and roughness of your glass also have something to do with the “legs”. Not a lot to do with the quality or flavors of the wine.

[Vincent_Fritzsche]

Interesting distinction on “tears” being about alcohol level, not “viscosity.” I freely admit to using the term loosely.

So why would tears supposedly be bigger in wines of higher alochol? I might think it’s the opposite, so that lower alcohol wine has alcohol move up the side of the glass essentially more slowly, or in less concentration at any one time, like people spread out more on the escalator. My rudimentary observations of physics would suggest the slower things accumulate higher up, the more that could accumulate before falling back down, giving bigger tears in lower alcohol wine. Perhaps not, but I’ve always thought tears were a useless indicator of alcohol because they vary in my experience in wines of varying alcohols, and not in a linear, direct relation - not necessarily thinner in lower alcohol wine, fatter in higher alcohol wine. Perhaps swirling and not just letting the surface tension do its own thing in an undisturbed glass is at play here. But who just lets a nice glass of wine sit undisturbed???

[Mark_C]

@Eric Lundblad

Alan’s right that glycerine and viscosity don’t contribute to legs/tears. Here are a couple of good (esp the fist one) youtube videos about this:

Why Does Wine Cry? - YouTube

The science of wineglass tears (or wine legs) - YouTube

Thanks for posting those.

A discussion of Van der Waals forces and zero-point energy can’t be too far off…

[Alan_Rath]

@Vincent Fritzsche

So why would tears supposedly be bigger in wines of higher alochol? I might think it’s the opposite, so that lower alcohol wine has alcohol move up the side of the glass essentially more slowly, or in less concentration at any one time, like people spread out more on the escalator. My rudimentary observations of physics would suggest the slower things accumulate higher up, the more that could accumulate before falling back down, giving bigger tears in lower alcohol wine. Perhaps not, but I’ve always thought tears were a useless indicator of alcohol because they vary in my experience in wines of varying alcohols, and not in a linear, direct relation - not necessarily thinner in lower alcohol wine, fatter in higher alcohol wine. Perhaps swirling and not just letting the surface tension do its own thing in an undisturbed glass is at play here. But who just lets a nice glass of wine sit undisturbed???

Vincent, the article I linked to at Sci American is worth buying (it’s a fun, not too technical article, and has some other cool stuff in it as well). The two videos Eric posted are a pretty clear explanation of what’s going on. You are right that swirling generates enhanced tears, because the entire glass becomes coated with liquid. And other factors come into play, particularly temperature, but also glass shape (to some extent), humidity, cleanliness of the glass, etc. Try it with a glass of Cognac or Whiskey, and you’ll really see it with the glass just sitting there - it’s particularly visible if you put the glass under a light, and watch the shadows on the table.

[Vincent_Fritzsche]

Alan, thanks. It was watching the videos that made me ask the question. I’m thinking of an avalanche of snow. You don’t just get more chance of an avalanche because of more snow. You get it even with less snow if it’s on top of a sheet of ice. So more snow doesn’t = more avalanche necessarily. So perhaps more alcohol doesn’t = larger tears? Maybe more alcohol = more tears, but people always comment on the size of the “legs” and I just never thought it was meaningful. Rhetorical questions really, it’s pretty inconsequential stuff. But if anyone swirls their wine and states, wow, look at those legs! as if it means something, I’m going to lose it.

[Eric_Lundblad]

Water has a larger/greater surface tension than water+alcohol (which has a smaller surface tension).

The greater the difference in the surface tension (between the wine climbing up the side of the glass and the rest of the wine) the bigger the legs will be. This is because larger/greater surface tension liquids pull harder than smaller surface tension liquids…and the wine climbing up the side of the glass has a higher surface tension (which causes more wine to be pulled up). The difference will be larger with a high alcohol wine, because the wine up the side of the glass has no alcohol in it (or very close to no alcohol) due to evaporation.

I’m not sure this was esp helpful…but I’m posting it anyways!

[Greg_Xu]

Beside “legs”, what about the residual aroma? After the glass is emptied for like ten minutes, smell into it. Is there a name for that? It tells a lot about a wine, almost like an autopsy.

[Eric_Lundblad]

@Greg X.

Beside “legs”, what about the residual aroma? After the glass is emptied for like ten minutes, smell into it. Is there a name for that? It tells a lot about a wine, almost like an autopsy.

I agree completely! It’s esp good for evaluating young wines (and barrel samples)