When you swirl a wine in the glass, it can briefly leave 'tears' on the inside. As they run down, they often form shapes that sometimes look like 'windows with pointed arches'.
When you swirl a wine in the glass, it can briefly leave 'tears' on the inside. As they run down, they often form shapes that sometimes look like 'windows with pointed arches'.
In English tasting language these 'tears' or 'church windows' are known as 'legs'. Many connoisseurs watch this pretty phenomenon very closely. They look at the spacing between the tears, their density, and how quickly they form and fade as the wine is swirled.
From this they read details about the wine, namely its relative viscosity and its alcohol content.
A comparatively higher viscosity is often taken as a supporting (positive) sign when judging the 'body'. How much weight the conclusions drawn from a visual analysis of the 'church windows' should carry is, of course, disputed. Some connoisseurs can nevertheless draw important (and correct) conclusions from a careful analysis of this kind. It is also worth noting that both differences in temperature and any traces of soap left in the glass affect the formation of the church windows.
Pictures
0 %