Tannins are often a desirable flavor component in wines, but not every wine has tannins, and not every wine drinker enjoys them. Whites and roses are popular for having low tannin content, but which reds wines have the least tannins?
Whether you’re just not in the mood, want to try something different, or hate tannic wines in general, this list of low-tannin styles of red wine will help you pick the perfect bottle.
Tannin is a polyphenol that’s commonly found in plants. It exists on leaves, fruits, and even seeds. To put that into perspective, more than half of a plant leaf’s makeup consists of tannin.
In the context of wines, tannin can be found in them in different amounts, depending on both the kind of wine and the method of storage during fermentation.
White wines, for example, contain barely any tannin – the process of removing the grape skin before the process gets rid of most of the substance. On the other hand, red wines that do contain the grape skin itself have a lot more tannins as a result, as much of the tannin found in a grape comes from its skin.
When it comes to storage, the material used to store wine can affect its tannin amounts as well. Wooden barrels are the main culprit of this, as the tannin found in the barrel’s wood can break away from it, and end up together with the wine. So even if you order yourself some white wine, there’s a chance that it may have more tannin than it usually does due to how it was stored.
So in short, red wine will generally have more tannins than its white counterpart. Fortunately for red wine enthusiasts and lovers, though, there are ways to mitigate the amount of tannin in red wine.