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Let's talk about Tannin. Tannin is an acid that is found in the seeds, and skins, and
stems of grapes. All grapes, but we usually talk about tannin in a red wine. A white wine
can have tannin if the wine has rested on the grape seeds or skins for a while or if
it was aged in an oak barrel. You might notice a little bit of a textural drying sensation
at the back of your mouth or the tip of your tongue in a white wine. In a red wine, however,
I can probably say you will taste tannin. As a matter of fact, the varying levels of
tannin in a red wine are one of the major ways we describe the differences in a red
wine. You'll feel tannin beginning in the back of your tongue after you swallow and
exhale from taking a sip of red wine, however, if you want to bring out the tannin flavor
in a wine what you need to do is take a little sip of the wine. When it's in your mouth,
draw a little bit of air in like this, "whhh", swallow, and then exhale. It's a little bit
embarrassing and not exactly beautiful, but it is what will bring out the tannin texture
of the wine. Do it one way. Take a sip of wine, just swallow it naturally. The second
time, do the little draw air in and you will be amazed at how much more you can taste and
feel the tannin. It will feel like a textural drying sensation, like somebody shrink wrapped
or blew dries your mouth. I'll show you how it goes. Ah yes, I can feel a drying sensation
on my tongue from the back of my tongue to the tip. That's a wine that's very heavy in
tannin. If that drying sensation went up about halfway up my tongue, it would be a medium
tannin red wine. If it stayed at the back of my tongue or maybe the back of my mouth,
that would be a wine that was low in tannin. Most red wines are at least medium. Some of
them are very full in tannin and its part of the thing that we love in wine. It gives
it texture, flavor, a little bit of taste, lots of body.