Great Legs? My Wine Has WHAT?

For some people, wine is just that; wine. However, for wine lovers and experts, wine is a drink that has more character than most. Before it even touches the taste buds, they can tell the personality of the wine the moment it hits the glass. These characteristics are both visible and sensory in nature.

Legs in Wine

In the world of wines, legs refer to the droplets of wine that appear inside the wine glass. To say that your wine has long legs means the droplets at the sides of your wine glass are viscous and therefore drag along the glass. For short legs, the droplets will drain faster from the sides of the glass back into the wine. The legs are also referred to as tears. This quality is used to determine the content of alcohol in that wine. If your wine has a high alcohol content, you’ll notice that the droplets are more compared to wine that is of lower alcohol content. It is also used to determine the sweetness of the wine. The sweeter your wine is, the more viscous the droplets are, therefore flowing slower on the sides of the glass. This means sweet wine has longer legs compared to dry wine.

Assessing the Wine Legs

For you to create wine legs in your glass, slightly tilt your wine glass such that the wine collects on one side of the glass. Now bring the glass back and observe the droplets on its side. If you see a lot of legs, then you will know that your wine has high alcohol content. This will be confirmed by the burning sensation that you will feel at the back of your throat once you drink the wine.

Sensory Characteristics of Wine

Once the wine lands on your taste buds, you can discover a lot about it from the way it tastes and the sensation the wine creates in your mouth. To discover the sweetness of the wine, observe the sensation at the tip of your tongue. If the wine is sweet, there will be a tingling at the tip of your tongue. The other factor is the acidity of the wine. If your mouth feels wet instantly and there is a tingling sensation at the front and sides of your mouth, then your wine has high acidity.

The level of tannin in wine can also help you explore the personality of that wine. This is usually contributed by the skin of the grapes used to create the wine. A high tannin wine will taste bitter at the front of your mouth and on the sides and will also make your mouth dry. This wine will also leave a bitter taste in your mouth after swallowing. You can also tell the amount of alcohol in your wine by how much the wine warms the back of your throat after swallowing it.

Boldness in wine

This refers to how dark the red color in red wine is. It is determined by the level of alcohol, tannin and whether the fruit flavors are red or black. The higher the level of alcohol and tannin in your wine, the bolder it will be. Those with red fruit flavors are less bold compared to those with dark fruit flavors. Hint: For red wine stains on teeth, try Cleaner Smile teeth whitening products.