Tenacious Tannin

The fun part about learning wine is getting to taste it. The frustrating part might be learning AND understanding the terms to describe the wine’s characteristics.

Recently, while covering a few tasting events, I was describing various wines and when referencing the word tannin, I received many a blank stare.  So naturally, those blank stares inspired this brief post on the what, the how and the why of tannin. After all, I’m just trying to get you a step closer to learning more about the wines you love!

Tannin is naturally occurring in many different items we come across on the daily. Think black tea, dark chocolate, walnuts (bitter bitter walnuts!). In the case of wine, tannins are astringent, giving you that drying, bitter, sand paper-y sensation on your tongue. They exist in the skins, seeds and stems of the grape and when any of those grape parts sit with the fermenting juice for a certain length of time (this is called maceration) the more prominent the tannin will be. Hence why you get some more tenacious tannin in red wines...wink wink.

A safe try at home: next time you have a table grape, peel the skin off the flesh of the grape and taste it...grapes with seeds, even better! CAREFULLY taste the seed. What did that you taste or how did that feel on your tongue? 

The use of oak or barrel fermentation/ageing is another condition in wine production that presents itself in the form of tannin.  This will hit your tongue a bit differently but the sensation will be similar.  

A safe try at home: Got a toothpick handy? Be like John Wayne and CAREFULLY suck on it for a minute...what do you taste or feel on your tongue?  WARNING: don’t get a splinter, don’t play with the toothpick, we’re all adults here…

I could go on about the existence and usage of tannin “additives” like oak chips, wood staves and powdered tannin (the horror!) but I’ll stop here and save those topics for interactive discussions :)

In conclusion (said with my best smarty pants, professor accent) tannin, like acidity in wine (another post?) can be gauged on a scale. The L.O.T.V. challenge here is to take an extra second to savor that sip of vino and identify how little or significant those tannins feel to you and recognize why. 

As always, have fun, ask questions & be adventurous!

Cheers, 

Lourdes of the Vine

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