Good Evening-

I've been speaking to a few people here privately around oaking
different wines and upon their advice have purchased some Stavin cubes,
medium and medium + toasts.

My first foray into Oak was with a 3 stave test kit from evOak
(http://www.oaksolutionsgroup.com/pages/samplekits.html). I followed
the test procedure outlined, letting the stave sit for 3 days in a
bottle of unoaked chardonnay, removed the stave, tasted, and discovered
I'm not much a fan of wet 2x4. Three days later (50% of the wine gone)
the super strong 2x4 taste/smell had faded, leaving something very
over-oaked yet palatable. I've got 12 more test vials to work from
(chips) so we'll see what the next test will do.

That said, I have 15 gallons of chardonnay that's been racked off and
has been sitting at 66F for 3 months, and another 15 gallons of
chardonnay that is still fermenting (should rack this next week). I'm
told the only way to get the buttery taste I'm looking for is to
perform a MLF- my alcohol on the sitting wine is near 14% and I expect
the fermenting wine to get at least to that point.

So, having read several posts on the subject and not been yet
satisfied, what would be the easiest way of performing a MLF and oaking
at the same time?

Should I...
1) Let the 15 gallons that's been sitting for 3 months go- It's an OK
wine right now, skip the MLF and the Oak since it's been too long
2) Oak the 15 gallons of sitting Chard and Oak the 15 gallons of
fermenting ASAP, then innoculate the 15 gallons of fermenting Chard as
soon as it's racked to a secondary
3) Innoculate both and Oak both?

4) Some variation thereof?

I'll be ordering some SO2 titrets from
http://www.chemetrics.com/products.html - 10 SO2 test kits for about
13$ shipped- to ensure that if I do perform a MLF I'll be able to do so
without fear of killing my new friends.

Suggestions are most welcome- I originally bought the Chardonnay to
experiment with Champagne and blending some Pinot Grigio but I may have
lost sight of the original plan.

Finally, are there *any* cheaper Chromatography kits then what I've
seen advertised as 80$? I can't believe the prices for 3 acids, some
paper, and a polar/nonpolar solvent. Geez there wasn't a day at work
when I used to go thru at least 15 glass plates!

Thanks in advance-

Jason

Try this company for Malic test kits:
http://www.accuvin.com/AccuvinProducts.html. You can find them cheaper
from other companies.

I'm currently frementing a chardonnay on stavin oak beans. French
medium toast. After the fermentation I'm going to put it through ML
fermentation. I'm also going to let it Sur Lies.

I also added stavin med+ oak to another chardonnay. It ended up being
over oaked and I don't think I'll do that again. I was on the oak for
4 weeks.

1) Let the 15 gallons that's been sitting for 3 months go- It's an OK
wine right now, skip the MLF and the Oak since it's been too long

If the SO2 is low enough you can try MLF, but since it's been racked you might not have enough lees for the MLF.

2) Oak the 15 gallons of sitting Chard and Oak the 15 gallons of
fermenting ASAP, then innoculate the 15 gallons of fermenting Chard as
soon as it's racked to a secondary

I would oak the fermenting Chardonnay and then put it through MLF.

Three days later (50% of the wine gone)
the super strong 2x4 taste/smell had faded, leaving something very
over-oaked yet palatable.

You'll find that oak integrates and mellows with time. What is
over-oaked at bottling can end up being quite nice 3-6 months later.

Should I...
1) Let the 15 gallons that's been sitting for 3 months go- It's an OK
wine right now, skip the MLF and the Oak since it's been too long
2) Oak the 15 gallons of sitting Chard and Oak the 15 gallons of
fermenting ASAP, then innoculate the 15 gallons of fermenting Chard as
soon as it's racked to a secondary
3) Innoculate both and Oak both?

These are largely stylistic questions. You need to ask yourself what
type of wine you want to produce? Lean and crisp? Fat and fleshy?
Something in between? You can still put number 1 (above) through MLF,
it's not too late. If the pH is above 3.2 and the sulfite levels are
low (say 20ppm or less) it should be ok. You may need to warm it up a
bit to get things going and add you'll need an ML nutrient. For number
2 (above) you needn't wait until alcoholic fernmentation is complete to
innoculate for MLF. Concurrent fermentations are often done. Again,
it is a matter of style.

Finally, are there *any* cheaper Chromatography kits then what I've
seen advertised as 80$?
Preque Isle (www.piwine.com) sells an ML chromatography kit that I use.
It's about $40.

Good luck,
RD

I was going to suggest Presque Isle too; I knew I didn't pay $80...

Joe

Kind of hijacking...

My Chardonnay is almost done fermenting and I'm doing MLF on it.
Should I rack it or leave it in the current carboy so as to have the
lees for the malolactic?

"marty" wrote in message
ups.com...
Kind of hijacking...

My Chardonnay is almost done fermenting and I'm doing MLF on it.
Should I rack it or leave it in the current carboy so as to have the
lees for the malolactic?

Depends on what you're trying to achieve. If you leave it on the lees the
"butter" flavor will diminish. To retain that you need to run ML after
racking away from the gross lees, and then away from the ML lees when that's
done.

OTOH, Chardonnay left on all the lees for ~ a year can be pretty nice.

Tom S
www.chateauburbank.com

Light Oak, medium butter. That's a nice chardonnay for me. I've done
the acidic and dry- I've got plenty of that sitting around- and I'd
like to round out the whites downstairs.

Just so many experiments to run... I need a bigger laboratory.

I purchased the chromatography kit from Piwine.com - they've forgotten
the pipettes which made it rather interesting, but other than that so
far I think it'll work. Wish I had my silica plates like work but that
stuff is expensive...

We'll see how the next few weeks progress.

OTOH, Chardonnay left on all the lees for ~ a year can be pretty nice.

Would I leave all of the lees in the carboy before and after ML? I was
thinking of doing sur lies.

I don't want to much buttery flavor.


Tom S wrote:
"marty" wrote in message
ups.com...
Kind of hijacking...

My Chardonnay is almost done fermenting and I'm doing MLF on it.
Should I rack it or leave it in the current carboy so as to have the
lees for the malolactic?

Depends on what you're trying to achieve. If you leave it on the lees the
"butter" flavor will diminish. To retain that you need to run ML after
racking away from the gross lees, and then away from the ML lees when that's
done.

OTOH, Chardonnay left on all the lees for ~ a year can be pretty nice.

Tom S
www.chateauburbank.com

Marty Phee wrote:
OTOH, Chardonnay left on all the lees for ~ a year can be pretty nice.

Would I leave all of the lees in the carboy before and after ML? I was
thinking of doing sur lies.

I don't want to much buttery flavor.


Go to Ben Rotter's site at

http://www.brsquared.org/wine/

under Articles there is one on sur-lie aging. Read that first, it
should answer most questions.

Pp

thanks. That site looks pretty informative.

pp wrote:
Marty Phee wrote:
OTOH, Chardonnay left on all the lees for ~ a year can be pretty nice.
Would I leave all of the lees in the carboy before and after ML? I was
thinking of doing sur lies.

I don't want to much buttery flavor.


Go to Ben Rotter's site at

http://www.brsquared.org/wine/

under Articles there is one on sur-lie aging. Read that first, it
should answer most questions.

Pp