Charles H wrote "I picked up my baco noir on saturday, about 322 liters
worth of
crushed grapes. They are fermenting in two large plastic drums right
now....I've used BM45. I am concerned with the numbers a bit, since it
was a bad year down in
Niagara, they a Brix: 20.2, pH: 3.22, acid: 14.2."

Charles - I've grown and made wine out of Baco for about 5 years. High acid
is always the problem with the Baco grown here in the KC area. I think this
is normal for Baco regardless of where they are grown. I agree with Clyde
that the 14.2 acid value is 14.2 grams acid per 1000 ml of juice. Same as
1.42% TA. Anyway, this is pretty high acid. I once discussed this with the
people at Presque Isle and they said their Baco is over 2%TA some years.

"I suppose acid reduction is in order... I have malo bacteria, I plan on
innoculating when I press."
If it were me, before I added anything to lower TA, I would take a sample of
the juice and freeze it overnight. Thaw and test again for TA. This will
give you a good idea of what the finished TA will be after fermentation and
cold conditioning. Depending on how much acid ppt from solution during the
freeze-thaw you can decide how to proceed.

I've used potassium bicarbonate to lower Baco TA in the past. I did this to
new wine after all fermentation was complete. In the 1998 Baco wine the TA
fell from 1.06%TA to 0.62%TA with K bicarb. Please use caution when adding
K bicarb. It may just be my taster but I believe it results in wine with a
salty taste. This taste dissipates with time.

If the TA does not fall significantly during the freeze-thaw you will need
to reduce acid chemically. I noticed a good idea the other day on this
forum. I forget who suggested it but the idea is to totally remove all acid
from a fraction of the wine with calcium carbonate. Then remix the two
fractions together which will result in the desired %TA for all of the wine.
Check out so-called double salt acid reduction technique.

One final thing...you have a lot of wine to work with. It would be
interesting to split the wine into two sub-batches. Ferment one batch with
no manipulations to adjust TA. For the other batch use either potassium
bicarb. or the double salt method (preferred since the TA is so high) to
adjust TA. Use ML culture on both and give each a hard cold treatment this
winter. See how they turn out.

Good luck with your Baco. Report back with some results...I'm always
seeking information about how to make good Baco wine.

Bill Frazier
Olathe, Kansas