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Bitter is one of the five tastes that can be picked up by the tongue. While it can be helpful in balancing a syrupy sweet wine, bitterness as a dominant factor is unpleasant and unwanted in wine. Thankfully, overtly bitter wines are rare.
Since our taste buds detect bitterness at the back of the mouth, you will be able to identify this fault as you swallow the wine, at the finish.
While some grapes, like the Muscat, are inherently bitter in taste, excessive bitterness in a wine is most commonly the result of an overabundance of tannins. Although the prevalence of both bitterness and astringency can be due to tannins, the two differ because astringency causes a dry, pucker sensation in your mouth as you taste the wine, while bitterness is not picked up until the finish and is wholly undesirable.
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