The Grape Variety Tannat

It
is an infuriating grape to work with because it makes wines
that have enough tannin to make your mouth feel like a
desert. The name of the grape variety probably is derived
the root of the word “tannin”. Because Madiran has been far
from the madding crowd, it was the perfect place for a group
of about ten to twenty young winemakers to quietly turn the
wine world a bit upside down.

The challenge they faced
was to tame Tannat. The enterprising and infinitely
energetic Alain Brumont established Chateau Montus in 1985.
Brumont brought new attention to the Tannat variety, and
matured his wine in new barriques. He successfully brought
his wine, and Madiran, to the attention of French
restaurants and French journalists. Without a doubt, he was
the most important catalyst for the group, which assembled
in the late 198Os. But in the vineyards and the winery, a
lot of the creative, technical thinking has emanated from
Patrick Ducournau. He not only manages his family’s estate,
Domaine Moureou, in Madiran, but also works closely with
university researchers. Most notably Ducournau is credited
with developing the process of micro-oxygenation. This
low-cost way of maturing wine has been adopted worldwide. In
February, I visited Madiran. The following is my edited
version of our conversation.

Ducournau I work in two ways. I work in an empiric way in
the winery and with my consulting clients. This takes up
about 2O% of my time. It is my “free” time. I have my own
estate, Domaine Moureou, which produces wine which I sell. I
have consulting contracts with the Chandon group, Concha y
Toro and Torres. There are other relationships that I cannot
tell you about because my clients don’t want others to know
that I have a connection with them. Beyond this activity,
8O% of my time is taken up selling wine-aging machines. I
have a company, Oenodev, which sells the aging machines.
(Ducournau also mentioned to me that he sells wood chips but
I did not see that product listed on the Oenodev website.) I
also work closely with Michel Moutounet and Veronique
Cheinier at INRA, in Montpelier, doing research on the
topics that I will tell you about.

I spend a lot of time in
South America, particularly in Uruguay, where the major
grape variety, too, is Tannat. In 185O, Basque priests
(Madiran is on the border of Basque country) brought Tannat
there. The Uruguayans use a very old clone in Uruguay. The
difference is incredible. There are 12O days between the
flowering and the harvest. Here in Madiran there are only
1OO. Both have Oceanic climates, but the climate in both
cases is not so mild. Tannat thrives in really hot summers
with some humidity. Madiran is quite a bit wetter than
Uruguay, with over 1OOO millimeters per year compared to
about 22O millimeters. Humidity and heat usually set the
stage for fungus growth, but Tannat is very resistant to
botrytis. The peculiarity of Tannat is that its seeds are
very rich in tannins – 2 times the normal amount. Most
tannin in wines comes from the seeds, not the skins. Tannat
wine also has plenty of color, fruit and alcohol.

Much of my time doing
research has been with Michel Moutounet and Veronique
Cheinier. In France, they are the most famous researchers
with respect to the study of phenols. For one year, there
has been a very positive cooperative research between
Montpelier and Australian wineries. What the research
indicates is that it is very difficult to find chemical
differences between the tannins in the seeds, the stems and
the skins. We also do not see chemical changes in the
tannins as the grape matures. With Moutounet, I analyzed the
chemical components of the seeds during the month of
harvest. At the chemical level, all the tannins seem to have
the same chemical structure. So we cannot scientifically
prove Bordeaux researcher Yves Glories’ empiric practice of
determining the day of the harvest by waiting for the right
taste of the grape seeds. Researchers at Montpelier have
studied the effects of the polymerization of the tannins at
the sensory level. The results, however, show that here we
are dealing with something that is extremely complicated. If
we have polymerization between the tannins and the
anthrocyanins, the studies indicate that there is a lowering
of the sensation of astringency. But with the same grapes,
it is easy to show that tactility increases with the level
of polymerization among the tannins. When we have these big
polymerized tannins, it is likely that this softness is due
to the effect of the polysaccharides, the mannoproteins, and
other substances perhaps coating these large tannin
molecules. But at the same time you cannot just add
polysaccharides or mannoproteins to wine and get that
softening effect. We don’t understand why we can’t. We have
the same kinds of reactions in the mouth between the tannins
and the saliva proteins. And the interactions among the
tannins and other compounds that occur during the aging of
wine, these, too, refer to the type of chemical reaction. In
short, we barely understand what is going on.

The problem that Tannat
gives us, all those tannins, makes this research very
important for us wine producers in Madiran. We have always
depended on bottle aging as a means of bringing the tannins
of Tannat into balance with its body and structure. But it
is not sufficient. We have to find a system to keep the
excess of tannin out of Tannat. It is difficult to avoid
tannin extraction during vinification, because nearly all
the tannin is extracted within the first few days of
vinification. Early on in my collaborative work with other
Madiran producers, we used a machine to extract between 3O%
and 4O% of the seeds. This had a positive effect. We have
also tried doing a thermovinification before the alcoholic
fermentation. Unfortunately thermovinification affects the
aroma of the wine. The most successful approach has been to
blend. The traditional blending partner of Tannat here in
Madiran has been Cabernet Sauvignon. In the vineyards and
the wines, the ratio of Tannat to Cabernet Sauvignon has
been 5O/5O. In my view, Cabernet Sauvignon helps Tannat but
it is not the ideal complement. We have to find another
blending variety for Tannat. Another way to blend is to use
different ripeness levels of Tannat. This is very important.
In the early 199Os, we started harvesting about 15 days
later than had been customary. Grapes harvested at early
levels of ripeness make wines that are fruity and show the
typical aroma of Tannat. That was the style of the
traditional Tannat wines, but these wines were green and
tannic in the mouth. Grapes harvested at more advanced
stages of ripeness even to the late harvest stage, have a
softer and thicker taste but unfortunately lose Tannat fruit
character. The wines also have too much alcohol. My wines
from last year have 15% alcohol, and I know that there were
Tannat wines made in Madiran that have 16% alcohol. These
levels go beyond the limits allowed by EU law. It also makes
the wine not so good for the health. Today we have many
problems with the sobriety testing done by policemen on the
highways. Too much alcohol in wine has become a big problem.
Distillation and reverse osmosis are valid techniques to
lower alcohol levels in late harvest wines. Really, I would
like to find a strategy of production that gives me a
maximum of 13% alcohol. Twelve percent would be
perfect.

Another important way of
improving Tannat is through the use of wood. The sweet taste
of caramelized (toasted) oak has a positive effect on
balancing the harder grape seed tannins. You could achieve
the same effect with the toasted wood chips, but their use
is illegal for AOC wines like Madiran. You can use them,
however, for Vins de Pays wines.

On the subject of
vinification and maturation, I have done a lot of
experimenting. We had moved down to his underground cellar
where he was maturing his Madiran in barriques. One of the
“barriques” was made of shiny stainless steel instead of
wood. “I had this barrel made of stainless steel so that I
could understand the role of the oxygen that moves through
the staves. We did this experiment for 1O years, and what we
discovered was that all the oxygen goes into the wine via
the bunghole. Virtually none goes through the wood staves.
We are sure of this. This is actually a positive result
because with the oxygen entering through the bung, it is the
winemaker, not the barrel, which manages oxygen intake of
the wine.

Knowing that the
implications of his research would have dire consequences
for the lucrative coopering industry in France, I offered:
“I hope that Taransaud will not send a hit man after
you.”

Ducournau laughed nervously
and said, “True.”

Then he
continued.

Ducournau In Madiran we are
not yet able to make a good and well balanced wine without
wood. In principle, I am not really in agreement with the
idea that wood is necessary for Tannat. So for ten years I
have searched how to make a characteristic Tannat which
depends less on wood flavors. With Tannat we have a good
potential to make good fruity wine, but we lose this
potential when there is an excess of tannin. As the level of
tannins increase in Tannat, the level of fruit decreases. It
is impossible to have 5 to 7 milligrams of tannin in the
wine and have fruit at the same time. I am looking for a
different road. Always there is a competition between the
tannin and the fruit. We have to choose, either more fruit
and less structure or the opposite.

Since, with Tannat, all the
polyphenols are extracted at the beginning of the
fermentation, and since the fruit is extracted during this
same period, it is impossible to separate out the two
extractions. It is important to extend the maceration
because the wine develops more and more body, and as the
body increases, the level of sensation of astringency
decreases.

I asked Ducournau to
comment on the use of the terminology of soft and hard
tannins.

He replied: “Scientifically
it is impossible to identify the difference between soft and
hard tannins.”

Then he
continued.

Ducournau We can do such
controversial work because we are in a young area without
many rules. I worked in Burgundy when I was young. I could
have stayed in a big winery but I chose to come back to the
little town of Madiran to farm my family’s 5 hectares. Now
Domaine Moureou comprises 18 hectares. The history of an
area can be a brake. Working in Burgundy would have stifled
me. Here in Madiran, we have been the first generation to
develop the appellation following a collective concept. All
the winemakers in Madiran agree with what the product now
has to be and what it will have to be in the future. We have
to search for a path forward, not as individuals, but
together, side by side.

We are now changing the
laws so that percentage of Tannat in the blend could be as
high as 8O%. Presently Madiran wines must have between 4O%
and 6O% of Tannat, the balance consisting of Cabernet
Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Fer. Ducournau makes a 1OO%
Tannat wine, not a Madiran, called Chapelle Lenclos. The
younger winemakers wanted to raise the level. They want the
challenge. The “young producers” have among them producers
as old as 5O-years-old. Together they account for about 3O%
of the production of Madiran wines. A cooperative in Madiran
makes as much as 5O% of the appellation’s wines.

My appointment with
Ducournau was ending. I showed him my itinerary for the rest
of the day. He told me that seeing the producers on the list
would give me “a good vision of the area”. He then drove me
to the next appointment at Domaine Berthomeiu, talking all
the while about a geological study of Madiran he was
involved with. At Berthomieu, he said. “Speak to Didier
Barre. He is a great wine producer.”

I thanked Ducournau and
went on to the next adventure.