What are the “legs” in your wine glass, and what do they tell us?
Legs, tears, fingers, or curtains are all names for the rivulets of evaporating wine on your glass after you have swirled it. Alcohol evaporates faster than water, which is known in the scientific world as the Marangoni Effect. Wine tends to be a mixture of about 11% water. As the ethanol evaporates, gravity takes over, eventually gravity wins, the water’s surface tension is broken, and down runs the water, in tears. The phenomenon occurs most readily in wines above 12% alcohol. Because of alcohol’s higher vapor pressure, lower boiling point, and gravity, we get these wine “tears”.
So what does all of this scientific mumbo jumbo tell us? That wines with higher alcohol contents will have more legs? YES! Will it be an indicator for quality of wine? NO! “Legs” will tell you nothing about taste or quality of your wine, it just looks important.