Wine · Terminology

Legs

The rivulets that run back down the glass after you swirl — a clue to alcohol and sugar, not to quality.

Legs — also called tears or church windows — are the streaks of wine that form on the inside of the glass and run back down after a swirl. They are a physical effect, not a flavour: alcohol evaporates faster than water, so the film clinging to the glass changes surface tension, gathers into droplets and falls. Physicists call it the Marangoni effect.

What legs actually indicate is alcohol and sugar content. Slow, thick, persistent legs suggest a high-alcohol or sweet wine; thin, fast ones suggest a lighter one. They tell you nothing whatsoever about quality — a fact worth repeating, because the myth is stubborn.

In practice

  • Higher alcohol → more pronounced legs. A 15% Amarone throws far heavier legs than a 9% Kabinett.
  • Residual sugar makes them slower and thicker still, through simple viscosity.
  • A dirty or detergent-filmed glass changes the picture completely, which is one more reason to rinse glasses with water only.
  • Room temperature and humidity affect them too.

Where you'll meet it

What a taster should actually do

Legs are a corroborating observation, never a conclusion. The professional sequence is:

  1. Note the legs while swirling — a quick prior on alcohol.
  2. Confirm on the palate: alcohol shows as warmth at the back of the throat.
  3. Cross-check against the wine's origin and style before committing.

If the legs say "high alcohol" and the palate says "light and cool", trust the palate. Glass shape, cleanliness and even the tasting-room air handle the rest.

The exam angle

Assessment sheets do not have a line for legs — WSET's Systematic Approach to Tasting scores appearance as clarity, intensity and colour, then moves to the nose. Mentioning legs in a written note wins no marks, and treating them as a quality signal loses them.

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