A Liking for Legs!

By The weekly winer 7 January 2008 06:18:00

Have you ever noticed how some people just love to admire legs? No, I'm not talking about the latest pop starlet or footballer, I'm talking about the legs of wine!

For those who don't know, yes, wines do have legs.  By taking a glass of wine and swirling it, streaks of wine will run down the glass, known as legs. Depending on the wine, some legs are thicker and easier to see than others.  Some even say that the legs have something to do with the wine's quality, saying the more legs, the better the quality. 

Some skeptics however, say that the legs appear due to a mixture of physics, surface tension of the wine, and alcohol content, rather than quality.  Naturally, the alcohol evaporates faster than water.  This allows the water's surface tension and concentration to increase, forcing the legs up the glass until the surface tension pushes the water into beads. Gravity takes over and forces the liquid to run down the glass in streaks.  If you need some convincing, try covering your glass of wine and see if the legs dramatically decrease compared to being uncovered!

None the less, the quality of the wine should still be the same. Whether its tradition or science, admiring the legs and all the wonderful things that a glass of wine has to offer, makes the experience that much more joyful!

Personally, I prefer a more full bodied wine as opposed to the lighter ones because the thicker it is, the longer the legs last.  But fear not because once they disappear, we can always go for another swirl!

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