Shane,

I am not a chemist and not an authority on hystamines but it does turn
out there is some research that has been done on this subject. You
might want to get access to Yair Margalits 'Concepts in Wine
Chemistry', pages 342-343. To sum up, grapes do not contain
hystamines and processing methods do not seem to affect hystamine
production. Niether does fermentation. They seem to appear after
malolactic fermentation, but not in all ML wines. They usually appear
in higher levels in reds than whites, but that makes sense, more reds
go through ML. He gives a few references for more info too. The
theory is that another bacteria that likes the conditions present
during ML might cause the hystamine production. The levels are pretty
low, reds are 5.7, whites around 3.3 mg/l.

To actually answer your question, wines from the central valley are
usually low in acid, so ML is not something you have to do. I rarely
do it, so you may be able to drink my wines. If I were you I would
make the wines on the higher side of the sulfite levels to stunt ML
production.

If you bought Regina juice, it comes in at 100 ppm SO2. I would touch
up the acid post ferementation, mine always seem to climb .5 to 1 g/l
after ferrmentation. That way you son't overdo the acid and want to
encourage ML. I would add 1/4 teaspoon pot meta per 5 gallon each
rack, and probably rack only 3 times. That's more than normal, if you
test sulfite just keep it at 40 PPM and I doubt it will go into ML
spontaneously.

Hope that helps.
Regards,
Joe


>
> This interests me because I am sensitive to hystamines.
>
> Do you, or anyone else, know if the hystamines are carried over to the
> wine with this method. I know they are when the producer ferments on the
> skins.