Some wines are unashamedly easy to read. Their fruits are easy to pick up on, and all the other characteristics are laid bare for even a novice to identify. Others are trickier, requiring a few minutes of smelling, tasting, re-smelling and re-tasting, as well as a good amount of studying the glass. Are those tree fruits or vegetal notes? Is that a copper or salmon hue? There are people who will shrug and say ‘Well, as long as it’s good’ and carry on sipping away. For those of you who get stuck on those questions, this piece is for you.
A few weeks ago, I tasted a wine that had me stuck on acidity vs tannin content. It was a fantastic wine that I bought a few bottles of and featured as the first wine of the week. There were some very distinct characteristics: strawberry and balsamic, lots of body… But one question sat in the back of my mind for a long time – is this acidic or tannic? And indeed, how do you tell the difference?
For starters, it’s important to know what leads to tannic or acidic notes.
Acids are present in all grapes at varying levels. There are several ways of reducing or enhancing these acids depending on what kind of wine you make – think for example of malolactic fermentation. You’re more likely to find acidity in white wines, as most red wines undergo malolactic fermentation.
Tannins, by the same measure, also occur naturally in grapes – but in their skins and seeds. For this reason, tannic notes in red wines are very, very common, as the liquid spends more time on the skin in order to give it its colour. However, some rosés (like the one above) are made with this method, and can have high tannic content too.
Tannins and acidity are tasted and felt in the same areas of the mouth – the front and sides of the tongue. In some wines, where it’s difficult to pick up on those hallmark zesty notes for acidity or bitterness for tannins, this similarity can make the distinction even stickier. The trick is to look out for the texture of what you’re tasting.
While acidity typically makes the mouth salivate, tannins are known for drying the mouth out – similar to when you drink a very strong tea. This was for a long time the reason I hated Pinotage (a South African varietal known for its high tannic content) when I was still getting used to drinking reds. While acidic wines will typically be bright, citrusy and fresh, tannins are more closely reminiscent of the bitterness of a grapefruit.
With this particular wine, I finally settled on tannic – which is a characteristic that I’ve started to appreciate immensely in rosés, but that I’m still struggling to get a full grip on in young reds. There’s an easy way to fix that, though – stick ‘em in the cellar.
