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Tannin
The drying grip in red wine — a texture rather than a taste.
The short answer
Tannin is a feeling rather than a flavour: the drying, slightly grippy sensation at the sides of your tongue after a mouthful of red wine. It comes from grape skins, seeds and stems, and from oak barrels.
Overview
Tannin is the drying, slightly rough sensation across your gums after a mouthful of red wine. It is a feeling, not a flavour, which is why it is hard to describe by taste alone.
Try it with strong black tea, brewed too long. That drying grip is tannin, and it is the same family of compounds.
It comes from grape skins, seeds and stems, and from oak barrels. White wine has almost none because the skins are removed first.
Tannin binds with protein — including the protein in your saliva, which is why it dries your mouth, and including the protein in food. That is the actual reason steak and Cabernet Sauvignon work: the meat gives the tannin something else to grip.
It softens over years as the molecules link into larger ones. This is much of what "ageing" does to a red wine.
If you dislike red wine because it feels harsh or drying, you dislike tannin — and the answer is low-tannin reds like Gamay, Pinot Noir or Frappato rather than giving up on red wine.
Where you can see it
- Very high tannin
- Young Barolo is drying enough to be difficult on its own. With a fatty dish it softens noticeably, because tannin binds with protein and fat.
- Very low tannin
- Pinot Noir has thin skins and little tannin, which is why it suits salmon and can be served slightly chilled.
What people get wrong
1 widely repeated claim this page corrects.
Go shallower or deeper
The beginner page and the chemistry page are both correct, and neither substitutes for the other.
Go deeper
Tannin: what it actually is
The phenolic compounds behind astringency — where they come from, what they do in the mouth, and why they soften with age.
Go deeper
Astringency: why tannin is a feeling, not a taste
Astringency is a tactile sensation carried by the trigeminal nerve, not a taste carried by taste buds — which is why it behaves so differently from bitterness.
Sources
Sources consulted
- WSET educational materials and the Systematic Approach to Tasting — Wine & Spirit Education Trust