If you’ve ever visited a winery or took part in a tasting at a wine shop or wine bar, you’ve probably heard the word tannins. Unfortunately, a lot of wine professionals throw this word around – smooth tannins, fine tannins, grippy tannins – without ever explaining what they mean, causing a lot of confusion.
So it’s time to help you to better understand what tannins are, where they come from, and what effect they have on wine. Plus we’ve got some misconceptions to clear up!
What are tannins and where do they come from?
Tannins are a phenolic compound that is found on the skins, seeds, and stems of the grapes. Tannins provide structure to wine but not flavor. (Misconception #1: Tannins are a flavor. Nope! Read on…)
Tannins are not a flavor but rather a feeling. They create an astringency or drying sensation in your mouth. Imagine drinking a cup of unsweetened strong black tea. Better yet, think about putting the teabag directly on your tongue. How is that going to feel? Probably like the teabag is holding onto your tongue and your mouth is becoming dry.
Tannins occur naturally in the skins, seeds, and stems of grapes. Red wines are generally fermented with the skins and seeds and sometimes the stems. White wines generally have the skins, seeds, and stems removed before fermentation. That’s why red wines have more tannins than white wines. (Orange wines, also known as skin-contact wines, are essentially white grapes produced like red wines. And that will be a topic for another blog post!)
Oak barrels used for aging wine can contribute tannins as well, whether used to age red wine or white wine.
What effect do tannins have on wine?
A lot! From a wine’s structure, to its ability to pair with food, to its aging potential, to how it feels in your mouth, tannins are very influential.
Structure
Tannins are a key building block (along with acidity, alcohol, and fruit) in a wine’s structure. Think of tannins as providing the framework holding all the other elements together.
Pairing with Food
Tannins seek out protein and fat to bind with. One of my wine instructors described it better than I’ve ever heard, before or since: Picture tannins as an octopus, with legs wanting to grab onto something – specifically protein and fat. You sip in the tannin octopus and it grabs onto your tongue and gums and insides of your cheeks. That is the drying sensation you feel. It’s harsh. But picture having a piece of ribeye steak in your mouth and then sipping the wine. That tannin octopus is going to latch onto the protein and fat in the steak, become really happy, and mellow out. And that makes the wine taste balanced and enjoyable with the steak, which is why big, bold, high-tannin wines like Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec pair so well with red meat or burgers (protein and fat) or aged cheese (fat).
Aging
Tannins act as a natural preservative. As wines age, their tannins start to link together and become smoother. So younger wines tend to have harsher tannins that might be described as bold or grippy and older wines might be described as smooth or velvety.
Wines that start out with higher tannin levels will generally be able to age longer and better. That is why red wines with higher tannin levels are considered more age-worthy than red wines with lower tannin levels and white wines.
How it feels in your mouth
Think about Cabernet Sauvignon, a wine that typically is high in tannins. When the wine is young, those harsher tannins will have a greater effect on how it feels in your mouth – dryer, firmer. But after 10 or 20 or more years, that same wine will feel smoother and more balanced.
Different grapes naturally have different levels of tannins. (Misconception #2: All red wines are highly tannic. Nope! Read on…) Some examples are:
- Lower tannin levels – Pinot Noir, Gamay, Grenache
- Higher tannin levels – Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah/Shiraz, Nebbiolo, Malbec, Tannat
So different wines of the same age can feel different in your mouth based on what grape they are made from.
Finally, we come to Misconception #3: Tannins and dry wine mean the same thing. Nope! These are two completely different concepts. Tannin refers to the drying feeling in your mouth. Dry wine refers to the lack of noticeable residual sugar. (Read more about dry wine vs sweet wine here.) So you can have:
- Low tannin dry wine
- High tannin dry wine
- Tannic sweet wine
So the next time you drink a red wine, notice how your mouth feels. Do your gums or the insides of your cheeks feel dry? If so, that’s the tannins! And the more you start to notice this sensation, the more those descriptions at the winery or wine shop will make sense.
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