How else would one describe "bitter"

My favorite reds are deep, very dark red or purple. However, every now and then I drink a wine that looks rather pale but is huge. I've never understood how that can be.

The wine color I like best goes more to a dark red/rust color; sometimes a lighter-than-dark red/rustcolor. I really don't know what this means either. Maybe I need a 101 wine course (or more reading). Dee

Maybe the word you are looking for is "astringent", which DOES result from tannins. If you swill the wine round your gums, astringency increases the friction between you gums and teeth. It's not a taste in itself.

'Bitter' is one of the basic taste sensations.

Strange that you should mention this. I have some btls. of Gigondas, that appear to be a Rose, but will know your socks off. I have to caution folk, when I serve it, as it tastes far more hearty, than the color belies.

As for the OP's question: I think that "bitter" is a good descriptor for a wine that is too tannic. While I love my big reds, and drink some too young, when I hit one that is truly bitter, it is not to my liking. For the most bitter taste experience, that I can ever recall, try chewing a lemon seed. I love the tartness of fresh lemon, but bite into just one seed, and I am ruined for the night.

Hunt

Good descriptor. To me, that tannin "feel," is best related to with a common event in my youth. We'd buy ice cream at a local shop, and it came with a wooden spoon. So long as one had the ice cream on this spoon, all was good, but lick the empty spoon, and it felt as though you had "felt" on your tongue.

I find that now, my tongue "sticks" to my upper palate and to my teeth, if the wine is too tannic.

Hunt

Not all tannins are the same to me. Some are dusty or dry, some bitter and some having integrated with age simply add to the taste and mouth feel of the wine

Interesting. I relate to astringency by analogy too. When I lived in Hawaii there was a tree called Java plum, the fruit of which was severely astringent. That's how I know what astringency is, and it is what I am reminded of when I notice the astringency of wine -- or anything else.

Andy

My husband, Edward, is a red wine man but usually prefers to drink Burgundy. He says he finds some Clarets have a harsh aftertaste. However, he has been drinking a 1979 Chateau Musar (Labannon) and all he does is purr as he is sipping, so I suppose there is no aftertaste there!!!

Judith

Clearly he is drinking the wrong clarets! :) Stick to the right bank, perhaps.

Many of us have found Musar's of this era to be excellent. I liked the '81. The problem with Hochar's wines, especially in more recent years, has been a vast amount of bottle variation. Sadly this can make buying Musar a bit of a crap shoot.

Personally I have stopped buying Musar, and with some regret.

-E

That explains my less than stellar opinion of the wine! It was disappointing to me after reading good things to open a bottle that was at best forgettable As a matter of fact, I had forgotten it until it popped up in this thread :-)

We haven't had a bad bottle yet, but we only have the 1979 vintage and have not tried any later years, I will certainly bear your comments in mind as it is too expensive to take a chance.

That's an awful shame, we have only drank the 79. It would be interesting to compare it with a bottle of a more recent vintage.