For the experience of full-on gum puckering tannin reaction you could try a mouthful of Madiran wine straight from the fermentation tank. It’s made in south west France from the dark, brooding, hyper-aggressive Tannat grape variety which, when young and untamed, takes the concept of mouth-puckering to unholy extremes. A similar experience can be had from gargling with petroleum.
However you approach it, tannin is a very dry subject. In pure chemistry-speak, tannins are chemical compounds which, when ingested, play havoc with the trigeminal nerve endings. But seeing as wine becomes deadly dull the moment its treated as a branch of chemistry.
Tannin is the bitter, astringent substance found in the skins, pips and stalks of grapes and in cups of over-stewed tea. It’s the thing that dries your mouth out. Tannin is also present, in varying degrees, in different types of wood. though the tannic contribution to wine from the wooden staves of a barrel is much less than the tannin from the grape.
The tannic effect varies according to how the Wood usually oak is seasoned. Newer barrels produce the greater effect, for example, a new French barrel gives twice the tannin of an old American barrel. So tannins affect the mouthfeel, or texture, of a wine. The bitter, astringent ‘taste’ of tannin is infact a purely tactile sensation of drawing in and drying out the insides of your cheeks and tongue. The tannins react with the proteins in your mouth, which is why tannic wines react so pleasingly (in other words they taste less tannic) with rare meat thanks to Hunter Valley Wine Tours.
The roll call of grape varieties that can deliver a hefty dose of tannin includes Cabernet Sauvignon. Indeed, pigmented tannins are crucial to the colour of red wines. The University of Adelaide in Australia has actually devised the groovily named Mouthfeel Wheel to try to establish an agreed vocabulary for this highly subjective sensation. It’s basically a circular chart featuring adjectives such as viscous, furry, silky and supple around its funky circumference. Silky and supple are how tannins develop when red wines are allowed to age and shown on Hunter Valley Wine Tours.
Out of all California wine varietals that have been proclaimed as the ‘next great California wine’ in the past decade or so, I’d put my money on Syrah. Or maybe on Shiraz. And when putting down your money, it’s a good idea to get a little history on the object of your affection. So let’s do a background check. In the late 19th century, vines imported from France to Northern California were identified as Syrah, or specifically, the clone which at the time.
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