What The Heck Are 'Tannins'?

Written by Phoebe Phillips

Remember when you tasted cold tea (without milk) and you got that dry, grippy feel in your mouth? That’s tannins! The only science bit you need to know is that a tannin is a polyphenol compound which loves to latch onto the proteins in your mouth – like those in your saliva – and so gives a slightly tight, astringent sensation.

Have you ever bitten into a grape pip? That dry coating you get on your tongue as you chew the seed is – you guessed it – tannins. Grape seeds, stalks and skins are where tannins are found, so if you want to try them out to really understand the textures of tannins – go get a grape and bite into those parts.

So, why on earth is this important in wine? Well let’s imagine there’s a delicious glug of wine in your mouth, but it slides down quickly and hasn’t really had a chance to attach itself to your taste buds and give you a proper introduction.  Tannins not only help wines to age and give them much needed structure, they enable the flavours to linger in the mouth and coat your palate with everything that wine has to show.

Tannins are much more prominent in red wines, which is a reason why some wine drinkers shy away from red and stick to white or rosé, but that’d be a damn shame when there are some quick ways around dryness and headaches the next morning.

Very tannic wines might not work for you and that’s fair enough; some of us literally can’t stomach the acidity (we’ll come onto acidity in another article) and tannins in some Italians red wines, such as Barolo or Sangiovese, can have a drying effect and twist up your tummy.

If you find you are sensitive to tannins, a way to sidestep any un-pleasantries is to bring food into the mix. Tannins love fat as fat makes the wine seem less bitter, so pairing a little cheese with your tipple of choice can make a tannic wine much more agreeable. Remember when you drank that €4 carafe on holiday and it tasted amazing with the cheesy nibbles? There’s a reason why it doesn’t taste as good when you bring a bottle home and drink it without said local delicacies…

So if you feel the tannins taking over and giving you a case of desert-mouth, bring a bit of food into the situation and it’ll make for a much smoother journey.

Phewph, that’s quite enough about that! So, in short, if you’re looking to buy a wine and it’s described as ‘tannic’ or as having ‘lots of tannin’, don’t wince but instead consider: this could be the perfect wine for that steak dinner you’re cooking, or for that cheese board you’re planning.

Either way, tannins are something all us wine lovers need to get to grips with, as they’ll always be a vital part of the good stuff.

The Most Bizarre Wine Aging Methods on the Planet

 The wine industry is no stranger to oddities, with many wineries and winemakers pushing the boundaries in an attempt to make the world's next best wine. While drying out soil and playing music to grapes have been methods used in the past, today we delve into something a little more intense: electricity, deep sea trenches and meteorites. What do all of these have in common? Aging wine – that's what.

Here are some bizarre ways people are aging their wine these days. And no, this isn't fiction.

Under the Sea

You've heard of treasure chests buried under the sea, but cases of wine?! An increasing number of wineries across the globe believe that storing wine in trenches under the sea causes an aging process that adds distinctive flavors and aromas to wine. A process that would require many more years of aging to achieve on land. Napa winemakers Mira Winery decided to test this concept, submerging four cases of their 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon to a 60-ft depth in South Carolina's Charleston Harbor for 3 months. The results showed that the wine had significantly improved, both in bouquet and taste – based on a control sample that had aged above ground.

The price? Only $1,000 a bottle.

So why exactly does this happen? According to research, it's down to controlled temperatures of 50-55 Fahrenheit, a lack of light and oxygen, and a combination of high pressure and increased sodium carbonate levels that increase flavor complexity.

While scientific research does show that this method enhances the wine, some skeptics believe that this may just be another marketing stint to sell a little wine for a whole lotta' money.

Electrocution

Imagine an electric chair that made people nicer, not dead – now replace people with wine. Essentially, a bloke in China called Xin An Zeng liked wine and set out to experiment on the effects of passing electricity through wine. He soon discovered that taking "plonk" or "really really bad wine" and putting it through a current of 1000 volts would enhance not only the bouquet, but the taste of the wine as well. Further experiments showed how reserve wines, once passed through the machine at the optimum 2 minute mark, could produce the same characteristics as being aged for up to five years.

Sounds a little shocking, right?

Meteorites

Now before you jump to conclusions – however disappointing it may be – scientists have not figured out a way to strap crates of wine to a meteorite for aging, only to retrieve them several years later. That would be amazing, totally impractical, but nevertheless amazing. So what is this all about?

A chap named Ian Hutcheon had two big passions in life. One was wine and the other was astronomy. Ian therefore decided to relocate to Chile and create his own winery. With the wine part sorted, he thought life was about to finally settle down. That was of course until an anonymous figure with a private museum decided to give him a 4.5 billion year old piece of meteorite. As the story goes, this rare phenomenon crashed into the Atacama Desert around 6,000 years ago, just miles from Ian's vineyard. So what do you do with a 4.5 billion year old meteorite? Well in Ian's case, you chuck it in your wine barrel.

Yep, with no hesitations Ian still to this day adds the meteorite to each of his Cabernet barrels for 25 days of aging (throughout the course of the year). He believes that this not only adds 'liveliness' to the wine, but describes how the drinker is 'tasting space' and giving them a 'chance to touch an element of space and taste particles of the birth of the solar system.' Now, the winemaker in me thinks this could be complete bollocks, but for the equivalent of $11.50 a bottle, I say we let people think they're tasting the universe; it's certainly not harming the piggy bank.

This story was taken from it's original author source (written by myself) at Vivino. 

The Top Wines To Pair With Chocolate Yule Logs

With the festive period almost upon us, we're all looking for ways to add a little bit of 'va va voom' to the usual proceedings; so I've decided to come up with my top three wines to pair with one of the most iconic Christmas desserts: chocolate yuletide log! Generally when pairing any wine with a dessert, a simple rule of thumb is to ensure the wine is as sweet, or sweeter than the dessert; a healthy level of acidity is also a very good thing. I think I've nailed this years' choices, I hope you agree!

First up on the list is the Wine Society's Exhibition Sauternes 2013. Not only does this offer great value for money, it is a genuinely quality wine. Uber sweet, yet possessing the linear acidity we're looking for to help tame the sweetness and temper the richness of our yuletide log, the perfect match! Wonderful white stone fruit and subtle tropical nuances, with an elegant nutty, butterscotch oak influence. At this price point, even if you scoured Bordeaux in it's entirety, you won't find a much better example.

Best served at 10-12'c and allow to warm slightly in the glass. Once opened keep refrigerated and consume within 5 days.

Price - £10.50
Buy now from The Wine Society

My second choice is Marks & Spencer's Tokaji Aszu 5 Puttonyos; Tokaji isn't as well known as many other dessert or fortified wines, but there's absolutely no valid reason for that, pretty much every Tokaji I've ever had, I've thoroughly enjoyed. This stunning example is a rich, opulent wine, dark golden in colour, with alluring honeyed and floral aromas and an incredibly diverse palate; tropical flavours are beautifully balanced against some vibrant citrus, yielding to a persistent nutty finish. Elegance personified. 

Best served at 12'c. Once opened keep refrigerated and consume within 3 days.

Price - £24.00
Buy now from Marks & Spencer

Last but not least, is the exquisite Elysium Black Muscat made by the genius that is Andrew Quady. I'm kind of bucking the trend on sweetness here, as it doesn't quite 'fit the bill' so much as my other two previous choices do, although there's just about enough to match the infamous yuletide log, but it's just such an elegant wine, with a perfect crisp acidity, so it had to be included. Floral, perfumed, with rich syrupy red fruit; incredibly unctuous and decadent.

Best served at 12-14'c. Once opened keep refrigerated and consume within 5 days.

Price - £11.99
Buy now from Majestic