Grape Guide
Tannat
RedTannat is a black-berried variety from the Pyrenean foothills of south-west France, where it anchors the reds of Madiran, and it is also the signature grape of Uruguay. Its wines are deeply coloured, high in tannin and acidity, and built to age, though modern winemaking has made them far more approachable than they once were.
Key Characteristics
- Black-skinned, with small to medium berries in large bunches
- Mid-ripening and fairly vigorous, usually long-pruned and trellised
- Vulnerable to mites and leafhoppers, and to a degree to botrytis rot in the bunches
- Very high in tannin and colour, with a high procyanidin content
- DNA analysis points to a possible parent-offspring link with Manseng Noir
Typical Flavors
Major Regions
Madiran · Saint-Mont · Béarn · Irouléguy · Uruguay (Canelones, Salto) · Salta (Argentina) · Paso Robles (California)
Also Known As
Bordelez Beltza (País Vasco · Spain) · Harriague (Uruguay) · Madiran (Vallée de l'Adour) · Moustrou or Moustroun (Landes) · Tanat
Overview
Tannat is the great red grape of the western Pyrenean foothills. In Madiran it is the principal variety by law, and its wines are inky, tannic and fresh, with dark fruit, spice and a tarry, savoury edge that softens only with time. The name is usually traced to a Béarn dialect word meaning tan-coloured, a reference to the dark berries and probably to their tannin. For much of its history the grape produced wines that were hard to approach in youth. Better viticulture, riper picking, destemming and the technique of micro-oxygenation, developed in Madiran to soften tannins during fermentation and ageing, have changed that. Today's Tannat ranges from supple, fruit-driven reds to dense, long-lived wines. Outside France the grape has a second home in Uruguay, where it is the national flagship, and smaller plantings in Argentina, Brazil, California and Virginia reflect growing interest in its colour, structure and acidity.
Origins & History
The earliest records of Tannat come from the 1780s and point to Madiran, an appellation spanning parts of the Gers, Hautes-Pyrénées and Pyrénées-Atlantiques, which is thought the most probable place of origin. The variety still dominates plantings there. The double-n spelling was already in print by 1827, in a account of Madiran wine made from the grape. Nobody has pinned down its parentage. On morphology it sits within the Courbu ampelographic group of Pyrenean varieties, together with Baroque from the Landes and Lauzet from Béarn. A twenty-two-marker DNA study hinted at a possible parent-offspring link with Manseng Noir, and subsequent genetic research has leaned the same way, yet which vine is the parent and who the second parent was are still open questions. Breeders in south-west France later crossed Tannat, and it is a parent of both Arinarnoa and Ekigaïna. Basque immigration carried the grape to Uruguay. Pascual Harriague, a settler born in the Basque country, established a vineyard close to Salto in the 1870s, and the variety went by his name, Harriague, there for many generations. Spreading across Uruguayan vineyards, it became the country's most widely planted variety, and it is now also grown in neighbouring Argentina and Brazil. Recent, small-scale plantings exist in California, Virginia, Australia and further afield.
Viticultural Characteristics
Tannat ripens mid-season and grows with considerable vigour, which is why it is normally long-pruned and trellised; managing the canopy and the crop is central to controlling how much tannin and colour the wine carries. The bunches are large, but the berries are small to medium with thick skins, giving a high proportion of skin to juice and explaining the density of the wines. Mites and leafhoppers are a threat, and the vine is also moderately prone to botrytis rot in the bunches, a real worry in damp climates like Uruguay's. Site shapes style: in Madiran, vines on clay produce the most powerful and longest-lived wines, whereas sandy soils give wines that are gentler when young, though they also age well. Getting ripeness right is essential, since unripe Tannat has hard, green tannins, and warmer sites generally give softer, rounder ones.
Wine Styles & Characteristics
Traditional Madiran is deep in colour, tannic and high in acidity, with blackberry and cassis fruit, black pepper, tar and a savoury, at times gamey, character that turns to leather and tobacco as it ages. Today's producers rely on destemming, micro-oxygenation and oak ageing to tame the structure, and wines from sandy soils or warmer vintages can be drinkable on release. Saint-Mont reds share the same grape base but are frequently somewhat lighter. Rosé is made from Tannat both in Uruguay and in the south-west of France, and some Uruguayan bottlings are rich dry reds with a sweet-edged impression. Uruguayan examples tend to have slightly rounder tannins, and some are blended with Merlot or Pinot Noir, while the best keep their freshness and capacity to age. Sparkling and late-harvest versions exist but are minor. Across the French south-west, Tannat is often blended with Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon.