Wine & Lipstick

The date is going well. The guy is awesome and – gosh – he’s a hottie. You feel sexy with your new lipstick. The food is perfect. The wine is exquisite… an old vintage from Bordeaux... yummy!!  

I bet you will remember it.

Quick toilet break.

SHOCK in the mirror: your lips are purple and your teeth totally stained.

Before

After

Yeah, you look like a fool (a drunken one).

No worries: there are ways to avoid this!

The “no-drinking option” not being one, of course.

Let’s kill two birds with one stone and try first to understand where these indelicate stains are coming from.

From the tannins of the wine, obviously.

In scientific terms, tannins are polyphenol compounds, extracted from plants.

In easier terms – for wine – tannins come directly from the grapes (skin and seeds), but also from the oak during aging process.

Hence, they are transmitted during skin maceration step. Which mean that, mainly only RED wines are tannic.

It can leave a “dry-out” feeling inside your mouth.

But tannins aren’t a BAD thing. When they are too young and “green”, they can be astringent. But they give great structure and body to the wines; help them being prepared for a long aging.

Have you ever noticed, whenever you are dealing with an old vintage, that there is remaining sediment floating in the bottom of your bottle? Usually better to stop pouring before ending the bottle.

This is also tannin mate. This will spoil your smile big time. And will leave your tongue feeling like the sole of an old espadrille.

So how can you know if there will be – or not – a lot of tannins in the wine you want to order?

Here are a few tips to prevent your date from turning into a total fiasco:

1/ Pick the right grape

Not all red wines are tannic. Indeed, not all grape varieties have the same tannic content.

Some of the most tannic grapes that you should avoid:

·         Cabernet sauvignon

·         Malbec

·         Syrah

·         Tannat

·         Nebbiolo

·         Tempranillo

Why don’t you prefer Pinot Noir, Grenache or Merlot instead?

2/ Be careful to cheap & young wines too

Not only Grands crus classes have tannins (and those will be supple and soft sediments).

Wine is a living organism. It breathes and evolves with time. When too young, tannins are aggressive, your saliva seem stuck and can’t moderate the astringency.

So avoid even more, young Bordeaux, young Nebbiolos and young Madirans

.

3/ Wear the right lipstick.

Well. It won’t save your teeth. But it can help you big time!

Here is a selection of lipsticks that should help you remain sexy until the end of the dinner:

The vernis à lèvre from Yves Saint Laurent. It combines the texture and shine of a gloss with the long wear of a stain. Plenty of colors. Pick the darker ones!

your ticket to heaven

Le Rouge de Givenchy… is always a good pick. The color is intense and the feeling is soft. Why don’t you try the “Grenat” color?

Chanel Rouge pirate and Barcelona red are some of my favorites too. I trust them so much that I would even drink a young Madiran with them.

Rouge Pirate de Chanel

Well, now you should be ready. 

But don’t worry too much and don’t forget that Wine makes us more beautiful, anyway !!

Ref: http://www.wineanorak.com/tannins.htm

Thank you to my sister’s sexy lips, to Elodie for the pix and Samantha for the lipstick lessons ;-)