Wine 101: Tannins
Hi there! Thanks for joining me for this mid(ish) week post-lite.
I thought it would be fun to start building up a dictionary of common words and phrases that we’re likely to come across when we’re shopping for wine. You can find the link to the page in the nav bar - hopefully this will become a useful reference for us all.
Tonight we’ll be learning about...Tannins!
So, what are Tannins? In short, Tannins are naturally occurring micro-nutrients (polyphenols if you want to get technical), that dictate how bitter tasting a wine will be. They’re found in tree bark, fruit skins and seeds amongst other things. The higher the Tannins, the more bitter your wine is going to taste. Wines that have been aged in oak barrels often have more Tannins present and will have that distinctive bitter/drying mouth-feel. The level of Tannin in a wine can be controlled by the winemakers through skin contact and how its aged.
Think about that sensation you get in your mouth when you eat super dark chocolate, or maybe if you eat whole walnuts, skin and all. A bit drying and bitter on the tongue. That’s those Tannins at work.
Are we clear? Higher Tannin, higher level of bitterness in the wine. This often contributes to how full-bodied (more on that term later), the wine is being described as also.
Thanks for joining me to learn more about wine tonight! You’ll find the full list of words I cover in these posts here - enjoy!
Salut!
Image Credit: Photo by Arnold Dogelis on Unsplash