What do the tears of wine mean ?

These drops that we can observe on the glass are often called the tears or thighs of wine, but you can also hear about crying, arcades, legs, jambages, arches or hoops — that makes a lot of words for unique phenomenon —. Depending on how these tears flow on the glass, we can say that they are fluid, fat, thick, flowing, viscous or glycerinated.

In wine, this effect is due to the fact that alcohol has a lower surface tension than water. If the alcohol is mixed inhomogeneously with water, a region with a low concentration of alcohol - therefore greater surface tension - will pull the liquid more strongly than an area where alcohol is more concentrated, as a result the liquid will tend to flow to areas of low alcohol concentration. This can also be highlighted by pouring water on a smooth surface before depositing a drop of alcohol in the center ; the liquid will then "flee" from the region where the drop of alcohol fell.

We're going to rephrase all of this to make sure it's understandable - I had a headache while writing the previous two paragraphs —. The boiling point of water is 100 ° C while that of alcohol is lower : 78 °C. This means that alcohol evaporates faster than water - rather logical, no ? —. A glass of wine will therefore tend to become very low in alcohol.

On the horizontal surface of the wine of your glass, evaporation is very limited, because the reserve of alcohol below will replace the little alcohol evaporated on the surface. On the other hand, in the drop on the side of your glass, the alcohol reserve is much lower, because the layer is thin so when the alcohol evaporates, its concentration on the glass decreases. The alcohol is too slow to go up the glass, therefore diffusion is not as easy as with the horizontal surface of the wine. The water then makes like a wave which pushes the rest of the alcohol not yet evaporated towards the top of its wave. And that's how a tear appears - and it makes Chocapics —.

Of course, several elements will influence the shape and flow of tears in wine.

Temperature is a major factor in the appearance of tears. The higher the temperature, the more tears will appear, because the evaporation of alcohol will be favored.

The level of natural sugar in wine also plays an important role as sugar brings more density to the wine and will therefore form heavier and slower tears than a less sweet wine.. A sweeter wine is the result of vines having sunbathed, It is therefore logical that a wine from a strongly sunny region has more tears than other wines. Experience it at home by comparing dry white wine with a sweet white wine from the same region — for example two Jurançons —. You will see that the sweet wine will have thicker tears than dry wine.

We can also cite the glass of wine as an important factor in the appearance and form of tears. Rough glass or glass with microscopic dust - from the cloth to dry them for example - will hold back tears better than a perfectly smooth glass.

You get the point, tears in wine can give you some clues about your wine such as its sugar content, but these are only clues. Tears are not a sign of great wine quality.

"Whether it's a wine or a woman, spin her dress and you'll see her legs, but it does not say that you will see more. "