Why Does Red Wine Taste "Raspy"?

Like the coating on the back of your teeth after a glass of cola, sometimes red wine can leave a scratchy texture in your mouth. A less than generous comparison would be that it feels like licking sandpaper. This is from the astringency of tannins, a chemical compound found in plants, in this case in the skins, stems, and seeds of crushed grapes. Since red wines need to spend time in contact with the crushed skins (and stems and seeds), they pick up more tannins than white wines.