Steeped in Tannins

 

Easily distracted, I have the tendency to get so caught up in something that I will quite literally forget I had been in the middle of something else. This happened to me the other day while I was making a cup of tea. I placed the tea ball in my mug, noted the time so I would know when to take it out, and then I made the mistake of starting the next section of my class on the Margaret River area of Australia.

              Completely enthralled by this wine region and daydreaming about its Cabernets and Chardonnays, it was forty minutes later that I realized I had not taken a single sip of my tea. Not only had I not taken a single sip, I had completely and totally forgotten to take the tea ball out. I hastily removed it, took a drink, and was greeted with a mouthful of overly tannic, almost flavorless liquid. Annoyed with myself, but also grateful it hadn’t been one of my special Scottish teas, I got to thinking about the concept of tannins and their role in a glass of wine.

              I have always been a fan of bitter/tannic drinks. I truly believe it is the reason mosquitoes typically leave me alone. Why go after the girl working her way through a dry Cab when you can enjoy the blood of the person next to her who is happily drinking flavored coffee with extra sweet cream? Just saying. All joking aside, though, I do tend to like my beverages a bit bitter. However, as with all good things, there are limits. Literally steeping the flavor out of my tea and red wines that leave my mouth feeling like it had a run-in with sandpaper are a couple of those limits. The big question, then, is what exactly are tannins and how are their levels determined?

              In the most basic scientific, clear as mud, definition possible, tannins are polyphenols (a complex chemical substance) created from phenolic acids. Tannins are natural and found in things such as wood/bark, plants, fruits skins, and seeds. This means that the tannins in a bottle of wine come from the grape’s skin, seeds and stem, and the wood barrel or staves used during winemaking. All wines have some level of tannin in them, but the amount is based on the grape variety and winemaking processes used.

              Red wines will have more tannins than whites. Why? It all has to do with how the wine is made. When it comes to most white wines, the grapes are crushed and then pressed off their skins before beginning the fermentation process. This limited exposure to the parts of the grapes that house the tannins means that it simply will not have a lot of tannin. This differs with red wine because once the grapes are crushed, the juice then goes through fermentation with the grape skins and seeds, and sometimes the stems. This gives the liquid more time to soak up those tannins. The other way in which a wine can receive tannins is through the aging process. If a wine is stored in a barrel or with oak staves, the wood will impart some of its tannins to the wine.

              This may be how wine develops tannins, but how is the level and type of tannins in a wine determined? There are various factors, with a big portion of it being based on the grape type. Certain varieties, such as Tannat, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Nebbiolo are naturally high in tannins. The grape skins will also be a factor. Grape varieties, such as Pinot Noir, with thinner skins tend to produce wines with lower levels of tannin. Then there is the actual winemaking. How long juice is in contact with the rest of the grape, if more extraction is created by pumping over or punching down the cap (skins, stems, etc.) during fermentation, and if it is stored in a barrel will all have an effect on the amount of tannin found in a wine.

              This then leads to how one determines how much tannin they are tasting in a wine. As I mentioned earlier, tannin is the bitterness/drying effect found in a glass of wine. The dryer one’s mouth feels, the more tannins the wine has. This may seem rather straightforward, but it can sometimes be tricky. An exercise I took in a class really helped me with this. The lesson had me make a few different cups of black tea, steeping them for different times. The longer the tea bag steeped, the more tannic the tea got. Perhaps this feels like a duh moment, but I found that tasting these mugs one after the other gave me the opportunity to really analyze the differences, especially when it comes to well-integrated tannins in the wine.

              When a tannic wine is young, the bitterness can almost be overwhelming and seem a bit harsh or rustic. As it ages, these tannins smooth out, many almost gaining a silky quality. This is the reason why such wines as Barolos and Riojas are aged in the bottle before release or suggest the consumer hold on to it for a few years before drinking. It doesn’t mean that the wine lost any of its tannins, it simply means that they are more integrated into the wine, creating more balance. This is why I find that tea experiment so helpful. Thinking back to the level of dryness in my mouth for the various times helps me to determine what the tannin level is in the wine I am drinking. The dryness level will be there no matter what, but the harsher qualities will have faded.

              Which takes us to determining the tannin level and balance. Wine experts have detailed scales for this. The most basic scale is low, medium, and high. If a glass of wine has only a hint of dryness, it has low tannins. If a glass of wine causes your mouth to feel dry, especially along the tongue, it has medium tannins. If a glass of wine makes it feel like the saliva has been sucked out of your mouth, it has high tannins. Honestly, take three mugs of hot water and steep a tea bag for three, six, and nine minutes, and you will know what I am talking about.

              The final thing to discuss when it comes to tannins is what do tannins do for wine? They help build the structure of a wine, making it taste and feel complete and not “flabby.” They also help red wines age. As I previously said, tannins in well-made wines can smooth out over time giving the wine longevity and some new flavors many collectors and experts seek out.

              Well, that is tannin in a nutshell – another food that has these polyphenols. Though I truly only brushed on the basics of this wine component, I hope it helped to give you a better understanding of what it is and what it does for wine. Today, I say cheers to wines with structured tannins and well steeped cups of tea. Cheers!

 

*If you would like to learn more about tannins, there is so much information out there. I personally used the knowledge I gained from my WSET courses, and a Wine Folly article written by Alan Tardi to help me home in on this concept and write this blog. Cheers!