In wine, tannin is a textural element that makes wine taste dry.
Tannin is a naturally occurring polyphenol found in plants, seeds, bark, wood, leaves, and fruit skins. About 50% of the dry weight of plant leaves are tannins. As a characteristic of wine, tannin adds both bitterness and astringency, as well as complexity. Wine tannins are most commonly found in red wine, although white wines have tannin from being aged in wooden barrels.
Grape tannin comes from the skins, seeds, and stems of a wine grape. For this reason, red wines tend to have higher tannins than white wines because the extended contact of the grapes skins with the juice give the tannins time to dissolve in the alcohol and water in the wine.
Some types of wine have higher tannins than others. The Nebbiolo grape used in Italian Barolo, is a high grape tannin wine.
Wood tannins dissolve into wine through contact. Most commonly this happens when wine is stored in wooden barrels. Oak barrels are the most popular choice because of the flavors they add to wine such as vanillin.
Tannin powders, oak chips and oak staves are growing in popularity because they are more affordable. It is hard to say which is better, since an oak barrel can be used in winemaking for up to 70 years.
Provided by: Wine Folly