Meniscus in Wine Tasting

Video Transcript

"One of the things that is very interesting to look for in a glass of wine is the wine's meniscus. You might have heard the term meniscus before; especially if you've ever studied chemistry, or if you've ever had a problem with your knee. Chemistry and also Anatomy use the term meniscus, and in both cases it has to do with something circular, or something fluid. In a wine's meniscus, we're talking about the oval in space that a wine creates when you turn the glass on its side. We already talked about looking through the deepest part of the wine, which is where you look for the eye or the robe; and the color. When you look around the outside at that curve in space where the wine hits the glass; look at the very edge, that's a wine's meniscus. The meniscus may or may not have a little gradation in color; it may or may not change color, and it may or may not fade to watery or fade to clear. Usually on a red wine it will fade to pink or orange, and then go a little bit watery. A white wine has a meniscus also, but they're a little bit harder to see. When a red wine ages, it starts to turn a little bit orange or brown, and it will show first in the meniscus, so if a red wine has a little bit of orange or brown around the outside, it will tell you that it's aging a little bit. If a red wine is pink or kind of magenta, it will probably tell you that it's a young wine, and if you don't see any gradation at all, be prepared for a big, powerful sip of wine, because that's what that will tell you; powerful, intense to the core. So it's always interesting to look at a wine's meniscus before you do any more tasting."