What is a tannin?

One of the reasons people shy away from wine is the exclusive lingo.  When people get talking about wine they throw around strings of words that can sound like a foreign language . It’s not that those people are trying to sound superior, it’s that there are some qualities of wine that can’t be described in any other way.  One of those words that is necessary in any wine assessment is tannin.

                A tannin is a chemical that resides in plants. It is responsible for that sour astringent  flavor that is typical of young or poor qualities wines.  A less tannic wine is traditionally more desirable, but recent evidence suggests that certain types of tannins are responsible for the vascular benefits of red wine.

                There are different types of tannins that taste and act differently. They are different because they come from different places. The less desirable come from the seeds, stems, and skins of the grape. Tannins from seeds and stems are characteristic of cheaply made wine because they should be separated out after juicing. The presence or absence of grape skin is the difference between a red and a white wine. The skin of the grape is responsible for the color and much of the flavor of red wine. The other, more respected type of tannin comes from the fresh oak casks that a good wine is fermented in. (the cheap wines use steel).