According to Karen MacNeil's "The Wine Bible," the shapely rivulets of wine that roll down the inside of the glass after swirling do not necessarily correspond to flavor or quality. In fact, legs (the Spanish call them tears; the Germans, church windows) ﻿are related to the rate at which liquids evaporate and the difference in surface tension between water and the wine's alcohol content.

"With wine, as with women," she writes, "there is very little meaningful information one can deduce by looking at legs."

-- J. Yadegaran, Staff