Putting Flavors into Words: Tannic

In this weeks tasting, we will be exploring the tannic element of wine.  Tannins are a normal component found in the skins, stems and seeds of grapes and when steeped, the juice soaks up the red color along with the tannins when making red wine.  Tannin is more of a texture that you feel in your mouth rather than a flavor.  Robinson compares the feeling on the tongue to accidentally biting the stringy part of the banana peel rather than the banana.  It is drying and makes you feel like puckering your mouth.  

The intensity of tannin varies depending on type of red grape.  Grapes with thicker skins, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, have more tannin than grapes with thinner skins such as Pinot Noir.  The color of wine follows the same guidelines so the darker the color of a red wine, the more tannin.  Tannin can also vary with the amount of skin contact the juice has.  The longer the juice soaks with the skins, the more tannic the wine will be.  Aging wine can actually reduce the intensity of the tannins leaving a smooth and more balanced wine.  

As with the last tasting, we tasted a wine with and without this characteristic.  Robinson suggests tasting a low-tannin Pinot Noir and a high-tannin Cabernet Sauvignon.  Out of the list of wines provided, I chose the 2008 Kendall-Jackson Pinot Noir from California and the 2007 Franciscan Estate Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley.   

The Pinot was a very translucent ruby color and the Cab was a deep reddish-purple.  The Pinot had a subtle fragrance with a very smooth and silky taste.  I'm sure this is why Pinot Noir is so popular....it definitely seems versatile and not overwhelming to the average drinker.  The Cab was much more intense in smell and in flavor.  It was a little tangy and was definitely more dry to the point of drying out my entire mouth.  In the pictures below, the Pinot Noir is on the left and the Cabernet Sauvignon is on the right.  

 Robinson says that this tannin character is the reason Cabernet Sauvignons go so well with steak or cheese.  She says that the fats in the protein  coat your tongue and allow the tannins to pass over your mouth without completely drying it out.  I can't wait to learn more about pairing wine with food! 

Putting Flavors into Words: Oaky

The next group of wine tastings is all about putting the flavors you taste into words.  The four main adjectives that are used to describe wines are dry, crisp, oaky and tannic.  I am to taste two wines from each category, one having that specific characteristic and one that is similar but does not have that characteristic (for example, oaky chardonnay and non-oaky chardonnay).  Because this would require purchasing and tasting 8 bottles of wine, I decided to break this tasting up as well. 

This week my husband agreed to participate in the tasting with me and we decided to taste from the oaky category.  Andre Immer Robinson gives a list of wines that she recommends and out of this list I chose a 2008 Jadot Macon-Villages from France (a Chardonnay with no oak flavor) and a 2008 St. Francis Chardonnay from Sonoma County (an oaky chardonnay).

                   

Robinson likes to think of an oak barrel as a marinade for wine.  It is a method that a winemaker can use to put their own spin on the wine.  Oaking can be done in one of two ways.  The wine can be stored in oak barrels during the fermentation process or the wine can be placed in oak barrels to age.  Each of these methods will infuse the wine with oaky characters.  The more the wine is in contact with the oak barrels the more oakiness it will be infused with.  It can add aroma, flavor, body and color.  Oak can also increase the cost of the wine due to the higher production cost but, in my opinion, it is well worth it.  

In the picture above, the French non-oaky Chardonnay is on the left and the California oaky Chardonnay is on the right.  Right off the bat you can see the wine on the right has a deeper golden color.  This carried over to the aroma as well.  The French wine smelled very fruity while the California wine had a more intense fragrance.  The non-oaky Chardonnay seemed to be a little bit on the dry side, but it was still full bodied.  This didn't even taste like a Chardonnay to me because I have always chosen California Chardonnays.  It was the Chardonnay grape base without any added flavor.  The oaky Chardonnay had a more intense depth of flavor.  It seemed to be more full-bodied than the French wine and coated my entire mouth with wonderful flavor.  My husband said that is was "velvety rich," and indeed it was.  Both of us enjoyed the French Chardonnay but preferred the oaky Chardonnay.  The oak just seemed to pump up the volume.  Needless to say, we polished off the St. Francis wine that night!