What exactly does 'tannin' taste like?

[AlvaroC]

@Dave McCloskey

Pablo -

Great question. The subject of tannins in wine can get complex and confusing, as the descriptions often attributed to them are incorrect.

According to the Oxford Companion To Wine page 680, “tannins cannot be smelt or tasted; they cause tactile sensations. Tannins may be variously described as hard, bitter (if accompanied by bitterness) green, ripe (if perceptible but only after the impactor fruit that has reached physiological ripeness has been felt on the palate), coarse, grainy, wood (if obviously the effect of cask aging), long chain, (an American expression for polymerized), short chain and polymerized.”

What tannins are:

"Diverse and complex group of din the barf many trees and in fruits, including the grape (particularly in the skins, seeds and stems). Strictly speaking, a tannin is a compound that is capable of interacting with proteins and precipitating them; this is the basis of the process of tanning animal hides (hence the name tannin) and is also a process that is believed to be responsible for the sensation of astringency. Tannins in wine come predominantly from the grapes and, to a much lesser extent, from the wood in which the wine is aged.

Tannins play an important role in the aging of wine, particularly red wines, where pigmented tannins are crucial to the color and sensory properties… They produce the tastes sensation of bitterness and the physical ‘drying’ sensation of astringency."

I think the easiest way to detect tannin in wine is through palate feel, particularly as it relates to the drying effect on one’s tongue. However, as has been pointed out by Jancis Robinson above, tannins can also provide other sensations related to bitterness and texture. You may read the “long and short chain” reference above and wonder what they heck she’s talking about. ‘Chain’ actually refers to the tannin molecules. Over time the tannin molecules begin to align, which reduces their sensation profile - less dryness and more integrated wine.

Hope this helps.

Quite helpful answer.

To me, Rioja really represents what tannin is like in wine.

[Sam_J]

I agree with Joy L. Young Bordeaux blends and young barolo/nebbiolo have crazy tannins for me. I notice them when my mouth starts to pucker/dry out. It leaves me feeling like I’ve sucked on a warhead but without all the sour, you know?

[AlbertH]

The grape seed suggestion is pretty good. For the extreme, I describe something overly tannic as the same sensation you get from eating an unripe persimmon. If you want mouth drying, coat-everything in fuzz type sensation then that is it!

[Kevin_M_L]

Easiest way to understand tannins: eat a banana before it ripens. It will cost you 50 cents. Have fun.

[S_L_i_m]

In my mind, tea is the reference point, but I think any of the suggested work for you. Just have to find one that you can identify/remember well and use that to calibrate. For me, that’s tea

[Chris_Blum]

@Paul Flynn

If you really want to get a good taste of grape tannin, open up a bunch of grapes and then munch down on the seeds. That’s grape tannin.

^ this

[DougS]

My understanding is that tannins give only a physical sensation, not taste. Tannic wines and foods tend to be bitter, but I’ve been told by winemakers that powdered tannin tastes like nothing. Others have said that certain types of tannins do have some bitterness, but I am pretty sure that is not necessarily going to be there because of tannins, and I know highly tannic wines are not necessarily unusually bitter. That’s why when I’m trying to figure out how much tannin is in a wine, I’m not looking at flavor at all. Tea and underripe bananas and walnut skin and whatever else also taste bitter, but ignore that. Tannins give the feeling as if there’s some fabric in your mouth after you swallow the wine. Touch your tongue to the roof of your mouth and your teeth. If it feels overly dry and like there’s fabric in there, that’s the tannin. Maybe your lips stick to your teeth a bit. It can feel like chalk, silk, wool, even very fine sandpaper in extreme examples. It’s all about mouthfeel.

[jamesharry1]

Tannin tastes dry and astringent and you can feel it specifically on the middle of your tongue and the front part of your mouth.

[Joey_Cuccaro]

On my last trip to Italy, I had a tasting with a wine owner who explained tannin a bit to me. As others have pointed out, it is not really a taste, but more of a sensation. He explained to me that the easiest way to discover tannin in a wine is to swish the wine in the front of your mouth (in front of your teeth). The sensation you feel is the level of tannin the wine has (or does not have). The stronger the sensation the higher the tannin of the wine.