Viscosity of Wine and Its Relation to Alcohol Content

Mouth feel, alcohol content and other properties of wine can be determined using viscosity measurements.

In a recent Golden Gate Polymer Forum event sponsored by RheoSense, we measured the viscosity of a number of wines that were being tasted by the audience. In this application note, we demonstrate a good correlation between alcohol content and viscosity measurements for wines with similar sugar content using the portable, small sample viscometer: microVISC™.

Additionally, viscosity can be related to mouth feel and other interested phenomena such as Wine Tears [1], which are a mayor component in the enjoyable degustation of this unique beverage. 

RheoSense viscometers present a number of advantages including:

• Alcohol content can be determined with a single measurement
• Viscosity measurements take less than a minute
• Alcohol evaporation will not be an issue
• Temperature can be controlled for more reliable measurements 

[1] David C. Venerus and David Nieto Simavilla. Tears of wine: new insights on an old phenomenon. Scientific Reports 2015.