A quick recap from Part 1 (and a short explanation):
…the more unripe a grape is, the more tannic (bitter, sour) it is. The riper it is, the less tannin it produces, the sweeter the berry gets. However, to some degree, the seeds, the skin, and the stalk maintain some level of tannins - the skin (less tannin- edible, very mild level of tanginess), the seeds (more tannin - edible but bitter) and the stalk (most tannin content - very bitter and obviously not edible!)
So why is the use of tannin encouraged in wine making???
Well:
- because tannin is a great natural preservative - it ensures a wine’s longevity and quality - helps it adopt a more distinct/richer flavour as it ages.
- because tannin can give your palate that ever-so-slight ‘oomph’ (so to speak!) Not too much though as highly-tannic wine can have a very unpleasant drying effect on your tongue and cheeks!
- because its use can be a way of balancing out a wine’s sweetness (that is if the wine is indeed sweet and the winemaker does wish to control it).
Winemakers are able to manipulate how much tannin is excreted from grapes during the wine making process – the gentler the juice-extraction process, the less tannin is produced.
There generally tends to be more tannin in red wine than in white wine? This is because, in the process of fermenting red grapes, winemakers try to extract as much of the colour as they can from the skin (as most of its colour can be derived from its skin, not its flesh). In doing so, they not only extract tannins from the skin but some of the tannins from the seeds also seep in.
Wines that are low in tannin are drunk while they are young while higher-tannin wines are allowed to mature for years (it’s a bit like certain varieties of cheese – the longer it’s left to age, the better it tastes).