Anatomy and Architecture of Wine
The "
nose" of the wine...
- Since smell contributes something like 80% (+/-) to your sense of taste, the way a wine smells (I mean that in the most complimentary way possible) is pretty important and has a major impact on the way the wine tastes. The "smell" of a wine is often referred to as its "bouquet" or "nose".
- Most younger wines have not been afford the time to develop the complex flavors that extended aging produces and, therefore, exhibit a fruity or floral fragrance more true to the specific grape varietal. The results of proper aging (in most cases red wines) allows more complex flavors to emerge as a result of chemical changes occurring within the wine.
- By swirling the wine around, preferably inside your glass, the wine is encouraged to interact with the air and in so doing it "opens" or releases more of its "bouquet" as a delightfully playful tease to the individual's memories as much as to their tastebuds. Positioning your nose deeply inside the glass (taking care to remain above the level of the wine) and inhaling allows you to appreciate the "nose" of the wine.
The
fingers,
legs, and
tears of the wine...
- Another thing you will notice after swirling the wine around, again, hopefully, keeping the wine inside your glass, are the remnants or residuals (called rivulets) of wine that form higher up on the inside of the glass, well above the liquid line. Depending on where you are, these are so romantically referred to as "fingers, legs, or, as they are known in Spain, "tears". According to Kitchen Savvy (2004) and Grape Vine Social (2009), some people mistakenly link the quality of the rivulets to the quality of the wine itself. Unfortunately, there is no correlation between the "tears" and the quality of the wine. However, there is a correlation between these rivulets and the alcohol content of the wine (Svans, n.d.) ). The more energetic or visually overt the rivulet action, the higher the alcohol content. The explanation rests in the science of fluid dynamics; more specifically the cohesion and surface tension of various liquids. Simply stated, alchohol evaporates more quickly than does water, and has less suface tension (Nave, 2011). Therefore, the more visible and slowly the rivulets descend and disappear, the more alcohol content present in the wine. Once again, science chisels away at the romantic heart!
- If you are in Germany, you would more likely hear these cute little rivulets called "church windows". Apparently, Germans are more of an industrious rather than romantic people?
