This is an excellent thread!! I'd like to skew off on a related but
tangent subject if you guys will humor me for a moment...

I recently attended a seminar in which one of the topics was
winemaking techniques for Cynthiana/Norton grapes. These grapes are
typically very high in acid (>1.2) and often high pH (>3.5). The
presenter was advocating the addition of tartaric acid to drop the pH
down to 3.5 prior to fermentation and let the acid fall where it may.
Then cold stabilize after fermentation to precipitate out tartrates
and get the acidity back down. Here's my rub(s):

1. Some resources claim that ML is inhibited in musts with acidity
greater than 1.0. By adding tartaric, the must acidity will exceed
1.2! If these resources are correct, wouldn't the odds of ML inception
and completion be slim? They say ML is particularly important in wine
musts high in malic acid like Cynthiana. What gives?

2. If resources mentioned in #1 above are right, wouldn't acidity in a
pre-fermented wine must be more important than pH to ensure successful
ML? I know pH is very important for long-term stability of wine after
bottling but does it really matter during vinification? Can't wine
stability issues from high pH levels be dealt with after fermentation
simply by adding a little more SO2 prior to bottling?

3. Once the cold stabilization precipitates out the tartaric acid,
wouldn't the must acidity and consequently pH end up right about where
it started before the tartaric addition? If yes, what was the point?

Please enlighted me. I sense I've been missing something crucial in my
winemaking process!

Concerned,
Charles Erwin



On Sat, 15 Sep 2007 18:15:13 -0700, RD >
wrote:

>I would approach this the other way around. Add tartaric acid to
>bring pH into the 3.5 range then check the TA. pH is much more
>important from a microbial stability standpoint, than TA. Excess
>tartaric acid can be dropped out when cold stabilizing. The potential
>problems of a high pH environment are less easily remedied.
>
>I would not skip the ML on your Zin, again, more for stability than
>style. Consider lysozyme if you decide not to ML your Chard.
>
>RD
>