Skip to main content

Tannat May Be Your New Favorite Barbecue Wine

Have you heard of Tannat? The hearty red wine is great with summer barbecue and a welcome change of pace from more popular varietals like Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec.

A wine with plenty of muscle, Tannat can stand up to just about anything. It’s a fearless wine that likes to take gamey meats and heavy roasts head-on. For a while, it was used as a blending wine but thanks to a breakout run in South America, it’s become a standalone red with its own identity.

Tannat hails from the southwest of France where it continues to be pretty widely planted and produced. But it never quite gained the traction of the more celebrated reds from Bordeaux, Burgundy, or the Loire. Dubbed a bit harsh on the palate by many French producers, Tannat was often blended with Cab Franc or Cab Sauvignon to tone it down.

In the 18th century, Tannat made its way to Uruguay. The climate proved extremely suitable and the grape went on to become the country’s most planted and celebrated. In Uruguay, it’s known as Harriague, and tends to be a bit more refined than the Tannat coming out of elsewhere. Other South American countries have embraced the grape, along with a few American states like Texas, Virginia, California, and more.

There’s no overplaying Tannat’s might. It’s even bigger than other bold varieties like Petit Syrah and Mourvèdre. It’s chewy like a good Barolo, with tons of tannin and a pretty high alcohol content (the word tannin is widely believed to be derived from the varietal’s name). Tannat is the kind of wine you can almost cut with a knife. But just because it likes to play at volume eleven does not mean Tannat is necessarily overwhelming.

Related Reading

The best Tannat wine is often driven by raspberry and plum flavors, with anise, espresso, and baking spice characteristics. It can age for a very long time in barrel and can sometimes show a smoky element, a bit in the vein of Tempranillo or Malbec, making it grill-ready and excellent alongside smoked meats and vegetables. And it can be surprisingly elegant, despite ABV levels around or sometimes more than 15 percent.

Want to dive in? Here are a few to try:

Lake Anna Winery 2017 Tannat

Lake Anna Winery 2017 Tannat
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Fully loaded with black cherry and cola notes, this Tannat hails from Spotsylvania, Virginia. The towering wine was aged 25 months in the barrel, primarily neutral with some American wood. Try it with smoked ribs.

Westcave Cellars 2017 Tannat

Westcave Cellars 2017 Tannat
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Tannat is taking off in Texas and Westcave’s work is part of that story. The Johnson City winery was one of the first in the state to fully embrace estate Tannat on its own, in all of its glory. This one is big and lasting, with nice jam and licorice flavors. It’s a small-production affair that tends to sell out rather quickly. 

Bodega Bouza 2017 Tannat Reserva

Bodega Bouza 2017 Tannat Reserva
Image used with permission by copyright holder

It simply wouldn’t be a proper Tannat list without at least one selection from its global capital, Uruguay. The Bouza is made in Montevideo and is a great example of the still-rising potential of this variety here. It’s firm but articulate, great on its own but all the better with lamb.

Plaimont Madiran Blends

Plaimont Madiran Blends
Image used with permission by copyright holder

This French label makes some mean cuvées that showcase Tannat at the forefront of the blend. The region’s soils and elevation lead to well-rounded fruit and wines that are surprisingly bright.

Troon Vineyard 2017 Tannat

Troon Vineyard 2017 Tannat
Image used with permission by copyright holder

This inky West Coast wine is wonderfully textured, with loads of red fruit and a deep, persistent finish. It’s fantastic with a rustic pasta made with rabbit or wild boar. The southern Oregon label even does a sparkling Tannat in the pét-nat style.

Editors' Recommendations

Mark Stock
Mark Stock is a writer from Portland, Oregon. He fell into wine during the Recession and has been fixated on the stuff since…
The best beverage coolers for chilling your beer, wine, and soda in 2023
Upgrade your "chill space" with a legit beverage cooler to keep all your favorite drinks ice-cold. Here are our top picks.
best beverage cooler on amazon

If you consider yourself a decent home bartender or at least somebody with a knack for entertaining, you likely need a beverage cooler. This specialized fridge is built especially for all of your favorite drinks, from the best Cold IPAs and amber ales to Sauvignon Blanc and even your favorite lesser-known liqueurs.

This is the fridge of fridges, tailor-made for all the best liquids. It's not overly huge, meaning it can be tucked away in a basement garage, or beneath a bartop. And it'll deliver all of your favorite sippers at the perfect temperature, or, in the case of certain wines, allow them to age beautifully as though they were in some lovely European wine cellar.

Read more
Bubbly? Full-bodied and red? Zesty and white? Your favorite wine types, explained
All the primary types of wine (and everything you need to know about them)
Glasses of different kinds of wine

Trying to understand everything about wine all at once is an impossible endeavor. Wine is a beautifully complicated, ever-changing quiddity, and even the most decorated and prestigious wine experts in the world often find themselves confounded by its constant little surprises.
That isn't to say that, if you care to, you shouldn't become educated on the subject of wine. It's a hobby and a passion that's tremendously fun to pursue, and there's much to learn on the matter.
If you find yourself in the beginning stages of your wine education, just as in everything, you'll want to start with the basics. It's possible that up until now, you haven't put much thought into the several different kinds of wine there are, except for, say, red and white. But while there are obviously exceptions within every hard and fast rule, for the most part, wine can be broken down into roughly nine categories. Here we'll take a minute to break those categories down, explain what they mean, which wines fall into them, and, our favorite - how to drink those wines.

Sparkling wine

Read more
These are the best wines to add to your collection: Our top picks
There are many great wineries out there, but these brands and varieties really stood out
Shelf of vegan wines.

We've already looked at some of our favorite spirits of the year and the tastiest beers of 2022, but what about wine?

2022 was a pretty good year for wine. We welcomed new appellations to the wine map, saw an increasing number of BIPOC industry members make waves, successfully messed around with new grape varieties, and generally heightened the status of the wine scene overall. So what really stood out? Well, several brands, but not just because of the wine they produce. That's a significant part of it, sure, but we're also interested in what they stand for, from real sustainability (environmental, social, economic) to how they're changing the game for the better. Read on to hear about our favorite wines.

Read more