06:57 Nov 6, 2009 

The phrase is a little unusual in that the wine's development in the mouth (ie the changing sensory perceptions) involves elements other than tannins, although it may be "driven" or "supported" by them, which are possible interpretations of the phrase. On reflection, "tannic development" is probably better avoided because it can refer to the acquisition of tannins by the berry during ripening.
It's not a great idea to rely on Google for convalidation of winespeak, either. I've frequently noticed that perfectly OK phrases, documentable in paper-based wine journalism, don't seem to google very well.

22:33 Nov 5, 2009 

Hi Simon, if you search for "progressione tannica" as a phrase on Google there are only 7 hits, and 2 of them are this question, so maybe it's not that common a phrase after all..

22:17 Nov 5, 2009 

I actually considered both of these, but was somewhat put off by the unimpressive number of hits. At only about a dozen each, it seems strange that what statistically speaking seems a fairly common expression in Italian winespeak (at least on the basis of my text, where it appears a good five or six times with variations) is so rare in English, especially considering the vast number of wine pages and sites on the web. My suspicion was quite simply that there might be some other way of expressing the idea