Astringent

Astringent describes the dry, raspy MOUTHFEEL of a wine with a considerable amount of unripe TANNIN. Astringency can also be provoked by certain foods, such as unripe walnuts or unripe persimmons. Excess astringency is unpleasant and causes the mouth to pucker.

Eighteenth century French kings would accept Madiran wines as payment for taxes. What grape would the royalty have been drinking?

A. Cabernet Sauvignon

B. Malbec

C. Pinot Noir

D. Tannat

Tannat originated in the Basque region of southern France, notably in Madiran near the Pyrénées Mountains. French kings accepted Madiran wines in lieu of currency for taxes. Today, plantings in France have been steadily decreasing, but tannat is now one of the most prominent gapes in Uruguay where it is considered the “national grape.” Doubtful, though, that the president of Uruguay will take the wine instead of pesos for taxes.

“Age gives a wine a sense of beauty and satisfaction that it could never have had before when it was young. In our minds, we intuit that beauty and satisfaction as a feeling of completeness. Because so much of life is incomplete, an old wine is remarkable and moving.”

—Warren Winiarski,
founder of Napa Valley’s Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars

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