I recently came to the realization that some people don’t like the full-bodied reds because of the tannins. Personally, I love those wines (cabs, petite sirah, zins, etc).
Can someone please recommend some low tannin yet full-bodied red wines? Do these exist?
Thanks.
Yes, though to help target the suggestions better, what’s their view on acidity e.g. from loving it as a balance to the richness, to not noticeable please. It will help influence whether something like Barbera is an option.
Some grapes to try:
Generally I don’t find that zins have hard tannins. So if you know people who don’t like them, I’d guess it’s some other quality of the wine.
As Ian says, sometimes acid is really what people dislike. Barbera is a good test for that since barbera grapes have very little tannin but typically have a lot of acid. Of course, many people prefer not to have too much of either.
Therein lies a huge challenge in trying to find wines that non-wine people will like based on what they say they like or dislike. The words they choose often don’t connect with that actual element in the wine. Like John says, a person may call a thing they don’t like tannin, when really it’s acid, for instance.
The toughest one, in my experience, is when people ask for a nice “dry red.” Getting at what they mean by dry is very tough. It may mean tannin. It may mean acid. It could even mean there’s no RS. But often I’ve found that for most non-wine geeks, a “dry” red just means “one I like.” 
Zinfandel is usually very low tannin, which is why it works well with spicy food (capsaicin amplified the perception of tannin, so drinking a Cabernet with your vindaloo will taste very harsh and bitter).
That would be the first place I’d look.
+1
Danny - Sarah makes a very good point. It pays to see what people like and dislike, and then try to figure out what’s behind their preferences.
Exactly on point. And then people confuse tannins with acidity. Also, the grapes John mentioned may or may not be on point. Most of the supermarket Merlot and Pinot Noir is going to have minimal tannins, and in fact most supermarket wine won’t be particularly tannic. But Merlot especially can be really tannic, at least if you get a good one.
Best advice is to ask what they like and go with that. And don’t be surprised if they don’t remember the names of any wine they liked.
And try cheap Beaujolais as well, although that can be acidic.
Orin Swift is one. I have 2 friends who share these sentiments and Orin Swift is a favorite of theirs. They have shared several bottles with me over the past 2-3 years and they are very full bodied with soft, well-integrated tannins.
While not 100% accurate, more often than not if the person in question drinks black coffee, tea without sugar or honey, and Craft beer then it’s not tannin that is the issue. If they don’t drink the above and have to add sugar or cream to coffe or only drink bud light then it is tannin that is the issue.
That’s a good suggestion. (Never mind that I take cream in my coffee but love nebbiolo.)
But do you NEED cream or not? And can you enjoy your scotch, whiskey or bourbon neat info you need them on the rocks?
Cheers.
Drinking scotch on the rocks has nothing to do with not liking tannins, it has to do with being a crazy person!
(Kidding…)
I pretty much need half-and-half in regular coffee, but I’m happy to drink espresso straight.
While I prefer whiskeys on the rocks (there is something magical about what happens as the ice melts and unevenly dilutes the liquor), I so sometimes drink them straight, only from a snifter.
So, try to make sense of that!
Come on guys. Give thew knew kid on the block some help.
Barbera.
That seems like singularly bad advice. My guess is that if they don’t like what they think is tannin, they’re not going to like the high acid of barbera. See Sarah’s post above. Sounds like they want something “soft.”
Relatively low tannin full bodied red: California Pinot Noir.
I honestly don’t think that it’s a simple as suggesting a specific variety. Any variety from any place can be made in such a multitude of styles that it is impossible to characterize it that simply. Certain High tannin wines can still come across as soft and the vice versa can be true as well.
I think it’s probably more important to suggest specific wine or bottling in this case. At least that’s my suggestion
Cheers.
Suggestion: go into a good wine store and ask the same question. Report on the three specific proposed bottles here and you’ll get a lot of feedback on them.
Or California Pinot. Ask for the Russian River valley (lots of great choices, tend to be more crowd pleasing.
Answer #1:
I would like to suggest a Malbec, Merlot, Carmenere, Nero d’Avola or a red that has been grown in a warmer climate or aged in all neutral oak or an inexpensive blend (be it Cab-based or Zin-based).
Answer #2:
I have found that many young, mouth-strippingly new-oaked, tannic Cabernet Sauvignons can become a silky, polished beauties when paired with a hunk of steak. Years ago, a sales rep friend told me about a company trip to the S____ Winery in Napa the prior Spring. He was there on business, and he never had much love for the brand.
Anyway, the facility included a restaurant where he and other trade visitors were served two small pieces of steak. One steak was presented with zero salt. When my friend took a sip from the glass of Cab following a bite of the unsalted, medium-rare beef, he discovered that the tannins remained stiff and assertive.
A following taste of the salted piece of steak paired with the same glass of dry red wine yielded a completely different experience - the tannins were undetectable, and the wine’s soft, silky, fruit-filled new identity stepped to the forefront. He said that it was as though he was drinking an entirely different glass of wine!
I am unsure if salt alone is sufficient to tame a wildly astringent wine’s tannins, or if the holy trinity of fat, protein, and NaCl is necessary.
I guess my point is that one should reserve their tannin-bombs for a steak dinner.
That makes sense. The salt stimulates saliva production, and proteins in saliva react with and neutralize/reduce the sensation of tannins. (That’s why your mouth gets dry after a lot of tannic wine – there’s no more saliva left to react with the tannins.)