BRATTLEBORO — Tannins are a component found in the skins and pips (seeds) of red grapes. Since grape skins also provide a lot of flavor and color, the juice for red wines is often macerated, or left in contact with the skins to extract those desirable properties.
The presence of tannins also lends a particular texture, or mouthfeel, to the resultant wine. You can tell that a wine is tannic if your mouth feels drier after you take a sip of wine.
Tannins are accentuated by colder temperatures, one of the reasons we generally serve red wines at cellar or room temperature.