Tannin 101

How To Detect Tannins In Wine

You can detect tannins by how drying a wine feels — it sometimes feels as if they’ve vacuumed all the saliva right out of your mouth! It’s easiest to notice this sensation on your gums and upper inner lips! Similar to the astringent and drying sensation, you get sipping black tea (especially if the tea is cold) or eating a square of dark chocolate. Note: It's important to note the difference between bitterness and astringency. Bitterness refers to taste, whereas astringency refers to the feeling - a tactile sensation.

Pairing Tannin With Food

Tannins were built to pair with rich and/or fatty foods. This is because tannins love to bind to proteins. In fact, if there aren't proteins from something you're eating, tannins will simply bind to the proteins in your saliva! (This is what causes the drying sensation, as the tannins bind to protein molecules in your mouth.) When tannin molecules bind onto proteins, they cancel each other out. It also creates a palate-cleansing effect - your palate won't get tired of the weighty flavours (since they are scraped from your palate) and instead will be stimulated to take another bite! Also, the wine’s astringency counteracts fattiness, creating a perfectly balanced (using the contrasting formula) pairing. The brilliance of a fatty steak paired with Cabernet is not just a classic, it's science! Note: Wagyu steak sold separately!

Three Gripping Thrillers

1. Sunshine & Spur Pinot Noir 2024 (Low Tannin) A bottle of Sunshine & Spur Pinot Noir is just like taking a walk through a cherry orchard in early summer. There is the scent of cherry blossoms in the air and the promise of summer berries is right around the corner. This wine is bursting with all these lovely summer berries and just like you can’t stop with one cherry, good luck stopping at one glass. No added preservatives, sunshine in a bottle and no tannins in sight! 2. Huella Reserva Merlot 2023 (Medium Tannin) The ‘Reserva’ Merlot is great for those who love wines with plenty of smooth dark fruited tones and a little bit of oak thrown in for good measure. Coming from the Maipo Valley in Chile, this Merlot from Viña Indómita has depth of dark plums and raspberry with a mix of toast, chocolate and spice at play. 3. Coughlan Estate 'Single Vineyard' Cabernet Sauvignon 2022 (High Tannin) There's nothing half-hearted about this chunky Clare Valley red. It's awash with dark berries, dark chocolate, and other dark things, with some mint and a little cedary cigar box characters just for good measure. Oh yes, this is full bodied red wine for sitting fireside (it would even taste good out of a mug) that warms up your soul and makes the world right again.