Hi Jack
You mentioned in your note to let the over acid wine age a couple of years.
Will this actually reduce the acid?
thanks
Sarge

"Jack Keller" > wrote in message
om...
> Phil,
>
> The method is sound, so -- I'm just guessing, but -- it appears the
> grapes may not have been fully ripe. In any case, they had far more
> acid than is normal, although I am not personally familiar with the
> Dornfelder variety.
>
> Go ahead and finish the wine. There are two things you can do and you
> might want to do them both (based on your account, I probably would).
>
> The first is inoculate with an ML culture and allow malolactic
> fermentation to run its course. This will smooth out the wine some by
> reducing the amount of tart malic acid.
>
> Then rack and top up and when the wine is clear and racked off the
> last sediment, move it into a cooler (refrigerator). Depending on the
> temperature of the cooler, it may need to be in there from 3 weeks to
> 2 months. But I am certain you will see a precipitation of potassium
> tartrate crystals. Rack the wine off the crystals and bottle it if
> acceptable. If still too tart, then you have a couple of choices to
> make. You can either sweeten the wine to mask the tartness or
> chemically neutralize some of the remaining acid and age the wine a
> while (always age after chemical intervention for high acidity). A
> third option is to age it a couple of years.
>
> Good luck and let us know how it turns out.
>
> Jack Keller, The Winemaking Home Page
> http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/