Wine Appreciation

Wine Legs

Wine legs, how many streaks your wine leaves when you move it around the glass, can tell you how much alcohol is in your wine. The more alcohol is in the wine, the more legs it will create on the sides. Legs are caused by the Gibbs-Marangoni Effect, where the alcohol’s evaporation causes the wine to concentrate on the sides of the glass.

Color

Beyond identifying the type of wine you’re drinking (white, red, rosé, etc), the color is not a particularly significant aspect of wine for beginners. There are a few helpful rules though: red wines lose color with age, while white wines darken. Redder wines tend to have higher acidity, while more purple or blue tints indicate lower acidity.

Label

The most educational part of any bottle of wine! Read up on the location, type of wine, and alcohol content. Flavor adjectives (light or full-bodied, dry, brut, etc.) can help you make a better purchase and let you know what to expect. The best place to start is to just keep track of what types of wines you enjoy.

- Short hand is that acidity is the sour taste in foods

- White wines are more acidic than red wines to balance out the sweetness

- Pairs Well With: Chicken and non-sour foods

- Tannin is the bitterness in wine, created by grape’s skin, seeds, and stem.

- Occurs more in red wines than whites due to the differences in the wine making process (whites are removed earlier)

- Pairs Well With: Fatty or Oily Foods

- The result of unfermented grape sugar left after the fermentation, in rare cases some is added later too.

- Higher sweetness is linked to lower alcohol content, as the sugar was not turned into alcohol

- Pairs Well With: Spicy Foods, Things that aren’t sweet

- How much alcohol is in the wine, typically higher concentration will bury other tastes

- Red wines tend to have more alcohol than white, but this isn’t always true.

- Pairs Well With: Varies but typically Red Meat and Fruity Cheeses

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