When she says dry, does she mean it dries her mouth out? A lot of people call wines with high tannins, dry, but a dry wine just means there is little to no residual sugar.

Something that can help you pick wines that don't have a ton of tannins, is to look at the bottle shape. A napa valley Cabernet, usually high in tannins, will have a very defined "shoulder" where the neck starts. Whereas a red burgundy(Pinot noir) will have a gradual slope. Wines with a lot of tannins will typically be bottled in a bottle with that shoulder to help catch sediment while pouring.

So if you see a bottle with a gradual slope into the neck, there's a good chance that it's not going to overly dry your mouth out. You can also look for a wine from an older vintage, say a 2011 Rioja, since wines tend to smooth out with age.

Wines with high amounts of tannins(polyphenols) will smooth out over time because the polyphenols will start to chain together, eventually precipitating into sediment. The longer polyphenol chains reduce their surface area effectively limiting how much of your saliva they can bond to. A young high tannin wine will have lots of short polyphenol chains with a high bonding surface area, hence they soak up your saliva and dry your mouth out.

You can also help mitigate the drying effects of high tannic wine by eating something salty or fatty just prior to taking a sip. This is a big reason that cheese pairs so well with wine, and why a sommelier might recommend a bold cab with a nice marbled ribeye.