Wine 101: She's got Legs

Before my current position as Professional Winer, I didn't give too much thought to the wine I consumed. If it tasted good, I drank it. I had a friend that was very into his wine, and he attempted to "teach" me things, here and there. Once, when we were enjoying what I now know is a middle-of-the-road quality Zinfandel, he remarked on the wine's "legs."

"That's how you know it's a good wine. It's got nice legs."

As I continued to drink wine, and when I eventually got my position here at Joe Canal's, I heard the term "legs" referred to fairly often, but the reasons for the legs varied from "alcohol content" to "viscosity" to "sugar content." I even got one explanation, something to the effect that the legs had nothing to do with the wine itself at all, but rather the glassware the wine was in.

The most plausible reason I can find does, indeed relate to the alcohol content. When wine is swirled, it coats the inside of the glass. Alcohol evaporates faster than water does and has a lower surface tension. As the alcohol evaporates from the side of the glass, the water concentration increases, causing the wine to pull together and run down the glass in droplets, or "legs."

Whatever the explanation truly is, there's one thing for sure that the presence of legs isn't: an indicator of quality. We swirl wine not to observe its legs, but to increase the surface area of the wine to increase oxygenation, affecting aromas and flavors.