What's the deal with glasses?

So what’s with the different glasses?

Believe it or not but the same wine will taste significantly different when served from particular glasses.
How can an inert piece of transparent glass cause a wine to taste different? After all, it is the same wine sensed by the same tongue and only the container is different.

Try this simple test at home or in the winery. Select any red wine and pour some into a large bowl glass and a similar amount into a Champaign flute or small cup. Taste the wine in the small glass first and then the large glass. Be honest and see what you think. Most wine tasters are amazed and become believers in the shape of the glass and the taste of the wine.

Half the sense of taste is smell. With a large bowl glass, it fills with the aromas of the wine. As you drink the wine, you immerse your nose into the glass and inhale the aromas. That enhances the flavor of the wine. In a small glass your nose cannot get anywhere close to the bowl and you miss the wonderful smell of good wine.

Wine Legs

There are many "urban myths" regarding the legs or tears of a wine. Some say it’s a sign of quality, and others say no… who’s correct?

Sorry to disappoint if you’re on the offending side, but those who say no are correct. Wine legs refer to the way wine swirled in a glass runs down the inside surface. Some wines having been swirled, may flow down in a fairly even sheet, while others may pull into more concentrated rivulets; these rivulets are what are referred to as legs, or sometimes tears.

Some people believe the presence and thickness of legs relates to the sweetness, viscosity or quality of wine…and none of these is correct. Legs form because of the alcohol content of the wine and the effects of surface tension, adhesion and evaporation.

The alcohol, because it has a lower surface tension, tends to crawl up the glass; at the same time, it evaporates faster than the water in the wine because of its lower boiling point. As more alcohol evaporates, the water concentration increases; the greater surface tension of the water causes the wine to pull together into a teardrop that then runs down the inside of the glass.

Finally, because a wine’s “body” is affected by the alcohol content, there is some relationship between legs and body, but there are so many other factors involved that legs alone are a poor indicator of quality.

Cheers!