Biff Tannins

              

                 

Don't confuse Biff Tannen (L) with tannin (R), he might just choke you

FINALLY, after three weeks of tasting white wines we've moved on to reds.  As our first day tasting reds, we began with a discussion of tannin.  Most of us had never heard of it, but we all know what it is.  You know that a wine has tannins when after a sip your mouth puckers up and you’re left with have a dry, rough feeling.  You'll almost inevitably run your tongue over your teeth.  It’s not a good thing.

But what causes it?  Tannins are a natural preservative found in the leaves, stems, and seeds of grapes.  They can also be found in oak barrels (particularly new ones) used for storing/aging wine.  They give red wine its color, structure, body, and age. Some grapes (thin-skinned grapes and those grown in hotter climates) have more tannin than others and, obviously, some wines (younger wines and those that have had more contact with oak) have more than others.  As a wine ages, the tannins crystallize and stick to the side of the bottle and are left behind after you pour.  They also manifest themselves in the deposits left behind in the bottom of a bottle of red wine. 

In attempt to perfect tannin levels, vineyards try to harvest their grapes at the optimal ripeness.  Wineries can manipulate the extract of tannin through different maceration techniques (maceration is the term for the process by which a winery keeps the skins, seeds, and stems in contact with the juice during fermentation in order to extract their color and flavor).  Maceration creates some chemical reaction that reduces tannin (sorry, that’s all I’ve got on that; I think I got a B- in 10^th grade chemistry).

Vino after the jump

OK, now on to the wines. We tasted five different wines varying from $22 to $270 per bottle.  All were from New Zealand except for one Australian wine.  Because I liked it, I’ll use Shark’s smiley face Thelander Scale for my personal rating of each wine.

Te Mata Gamay Noir, 2009, Hawkes Bay, 13.5% alcohol, $22:

Rose and sweet wood smell.  Light, fruity taste.  Low tannin.

After tasting this one, we were told that it’s made in a similar fashion to Beaujolais Nouvea.  Beaujolais is made by carbonic maceration which is a quick but gentle and all-natural process that leads to a very light and fruity wine.  This gamay noir was produced in that same fashion but then blended with another wine made by standard maceration so it was a slight bit heavier than a typical Beaujolais.

Rating: K

Te Mata Woodthorpe Merlot Cabernet, Hawkes Bay, 13.5% alcohol, $22:

Clean, spicy, and oaky smell.  Medium body and oaky flavor.  Low/medium tannin (extended maceration).

44% merlot, 22% cabernet franc, 16% cabernet sauvignon, 13% pinot verdot.

Rating: J

Ring Bolt Cabernet Sauvignon, 2008, Western Australia, 13.5% alcohol, $24:

Smelled like Texas Pete hot sauce.  Spicy flavor with a slight vanilla aftertaste (oaked for 13 months in 20% US oak & 80% French oak).  Medium tannins, but slightly more than the others (vigorous maceration).

Rating: J J J

Te Whau “The Point,” 2005, Waiheke Island, $100:

Smelled distinctly like canned asparagus.  Dry, medium bodied.  Medium tannins  (about the same as #3).

43% cabernet sauvignon, 42% merlot, 10% cabernet franc, 5% malbec.

Rating: J J

Stonyridge Larose, 1996, Waiheke Island, $200-$270:

Smelled like pepper and hot sauce.  Medium body and very smooth, but a slight vinegar taste.  Low tannin (old). 

This wine was good, but I definitely did not think it was worth $270, or the $800 or $900 you’d pay in a restaurant.

Rating: J J J

As they say here: “good on ya,”

Robert