The Visual Assessment of Wine

RE: The Visual Assessment of Wine

Dinah Leach — Sun, 11 Mar 2018 08:26:38 GMT

"Send" was hit before I got a chance to say, "Please and thank you!!!!"

RE: The Visual Assessment of Wine

Dinah Leach — Sun, 11 Mar 2018 08:24:45 GMT

I know your very informative article was written forever ago, but I do have a question that none of the posts below have addressed. I just read your article today. I can totally understand the concept of the nucleation sites for gas/CO2 originating on the sides of the glass due to inconsistencies with the surface of the glass, obviously on a microscopic scale. What I do not understand is how the nucleation site can occur in the middle of the glass in the liquid and sometimes in several places in the middle of the glass! This would not seem to address the "nucleation site"- could you please explain how this would occur?

RE: The Visual Assessment of Wine

LGS — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 20:04:01 GMT

Hello Jamie,

Great Article and very informative.

Thank you!

RE: The Visual Assessment of Wine

Frank Kämmer — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 09:18:35 GMT

Hello Jamie,

There are two aspects that I do miss in the “tearing “ discussion so far and I think it is not enough just focussing on alcohol.

1. The effect of residual sugar: think of a classic Riesling TBA – low alcohol and intense tearing.

2. The fact that pure alcohol doesn’t tear at all! Obviously the solution with other liquids plays an important role.

cheers!

Frank.

RE: The Visual Assessment of Wine

Jamie Goode — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 11:18:04 GMT

Thanks for the comments and the great questions. I don't know of any research about whether dry extract will have any effect on tearing. My guess would that it wouldn't be much of a factor. Jake, you are right that high alcohol wines would tend to be more extracted - they are usually made from riper grapes, and both the alcohol and ripeness of the skins would lead to more extraction. From quizzing the various scientists I contacted in researching this piece, I came away with the impression that there are quite a lot of unanswered questions.

RE: The Visual Assessment of Wine

Admin User — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 18:04:17 GMT

William, its been a long time since high school chemistry, but color change is basically at the heart of measuring pH. pH and color change go hand-in-hand. What color the pH changes to depends on the type of pH indicator you are using. Remember doing chemistry projects with the pH strips? The measurement relied on the change of color.

Anthocyanins are a natural indicator, and tend to go red in solutions of lower pH and blue/violet in solutions of higher pH (they actually turn green/yellow once you go past neutral and start getting into the alkaline end of the scale). Wikipedia has some good stuff on this.

RE: The Visual Assessment of Wine

William Predhomme — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 15:53:02 GMT

In regards to colour in reds, Is there a similar colour-changing effect when higher pH wines (purple/blue) are adjusted lower in the winery?

RE: The Visual Assessment of Wine

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 12:09:30 GMT

I have heard some people mention that dry extract in a wine may affect how quickly or slowly tears fall and how thick or thin they may be. Do you know of any research that has been done on the levels of dry extract in a wine and how levels of dry extract affect tearing? It seems that there would be a direct relationship between full bodied wines (wines higher in dry extract) and high alcohol wines stylistically.

RE: The Visual Assessment of Wine

Admin — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 16:31:02 GMT

My personal belief is that Jamie's conclusion -- that tearing is not useful in analyzing the visual appearance of wine, is slightly overstated. If you have a wine that is high in alcohol, it will show significantly different than a wine with more modest levels. However, his point is well taken since the temperature of the glass, and other factors, can contribute to differences in tearing. I think tearing is most useful when it is at its extremes, or shows extraction of color.

RE: The Visual Assessment of Wine

Anonymous — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 12:07:33 GMT

Eye opening! Thanks for the great research Dr. Goode. Would it be fair to assume that a Mosel Riesling @ 8% alcohol would "sheet" rather than "tear" because of a lack of alcohol and therefor less tension or do you conclude that tears tell us nothing at all about % of alcohol in the wine?

RE: The Visual Assessment of Wine

christopher boyette — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 00:11:49 GMT

Great Read! Thanks, Jamie!