Hi all,

I made some wine from grapes last year (Zin) and fresh juice (San Giovese). We
tested them and both were low in acidity, so we added tartaric as per
instructions. The wine is clearing nicely, and at every racking, we tasted
some, it always tasted very good for such a young wine. I racked again
recently, and the wine now tastes very acidic to me, all of the carboys do!

My question: Is this a natural chain of events as the wine ages, and will it
eventually mellow? or is this how it is going to stay? If so, is there
anything that can be done to "soften" the acidity? Cold stabilization?

Thanks for any help!
PB

"Bonaquisti" > wrote in message
...
> Hi all,
>
> I made some wine from grapes last year (Zin) and fresh juice (San
Giovese). We
> tested them and both were low in acidity, so we added tartaric as per
> instructions. The wine is clearing nicely, and at every racking, we
tasted
> some, it always tasted very good for such a young wine. I racked again
> recently, and the wine now tastes very acidic to me, all of the carboys
do!
>
> My question: Is this a natural chain of events as the wine ages, and will
it
> eventually mellow? or is this how it is going to stay? If so, is there
> anything that can be done to "soften" the acidity? Cold stabilization?

Cold stabilization _might_ help, but I'll bet you over-adjusted the wine.
You can reduce the acidity by adding potassium carbonate, but be careful you
don't overshoot _again_! Try a measured adjustment on a small portion of
the wine. Chill the wine deeply for a week or two to drop out the excess
potassium bitartrate and taste it. If it seems about right, adjust all the
wine proportionately and cold stabilize it before bottling. If the
adjustment was a little too much or too little, you should have an idea of
what would be right, so you can try that on a second sample.

The right way to do acid additions is to measure the pH of the must/juice
and add tartaric to bring it to a reasonable starting pH. Bear in mind that
after ML the pH will be higher than where you set it, so you may want to
compensate for that by targeting on the low side initially. For example, if
the starting pH is 3.7, bring it down to 3.4 or so. Then after ML it will
probably be about 3.5.

Tom S

This seems to be a good place to bring up a related question: increased
acidity in stored bottles.

A 2001 Zin from Amador grapes started out with luscious fruit and good balance. No
acid was added during vinting. Maybe six months after bottling I finally got a pH meter
and measured it in the 3.5 range. 18 months after bottling, though, a sip of the
wine crashed into my stomach and the pH now measures 3.1. There is no sign
of acetification.

What happened? I don't see anything in the literature about pH dropping so
severely without acetic conversion.


Tom S wrote:
> "Bonaquisti" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>>Hi all,
>>
>>I made some wine from grapes last year (Zin) and fresh juice (San
>
> Giovese). We
>
>>tested them and both were low in acidity, so we added tartaric as per
>>instructions. The wine is clearing nicely, and at every racking, we
>
> tasted
>
>>some, it always tasted very good for such a young wine. I racked again
>>recently, and the wine now tastes very acidic to me, all of the carboys
>
> do!
>
>>My question: Is this a natural chain of events as the wine ages, and will
>
> it
>
>>eventually mellow? or is this how it is going to stay? If so, is there
>>anything that can be done to "soften" the acidity? Cold stabilization?
>
>
> Cold stabilization _might_ help, but I'll bet you over-adjusted the wine.
> You can reduce the acidity by adding potassium carbonate, but be careful you
> don't overshoot _again_! Try a measured adjustment on a small portion of
> the wine. Chill the wine deeply for a week or two to drop out the excess
> potassium bitartrate and taste it. If it seems about right, adjust all the
> wine proportionately and cold stabilize it before bottling. If the
> adjustment was a little too much or too little, you should have an idea of
> what would be right, so you can try that on a second sample.
>
> The right way to do acid additions is to measure the pH of the must/juice
> and add tartaric to bring it to a reasonable starting pH. Bear in mind that
> after ML the pH will be higher than where you set it, so you may want to
> compensate for that by targeting on the low side initially. For example, if
> the starting pH is 3.7, bring it down to 3.4 or so. Then after ML it will
> probably be about 3.5.
>
> Tom S
>
>


--
ernie San Francisco Bay AVA
California, USA
to reply, rack off the lees.

"> "Bonaquisti" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I made some wine from grapes last year (Zin) and fresh juice (San
> Giovese). We
> > tested them and both were low in acidity, so we added tartaric as per
> > instructions. The wine is clearing nicely, and at every racking, we
> tasted
> > some, it always tasted very good for such a young wine. I racked again
> > recently, and the wine now tastes very acidic to me, all of the carboys
> do!
> >
> > My question: Is this a natural chain of events as the wine ages, and will
> it
> > eventually mellow? or is this how it is going to stay? If so, is there
> > anything that can be done to "soften" the acidity? Cold stabilization?
>

The only thing I have to add is don't do anything based on one sample
of the wine, especially if the wine tasted good up until this point.
You have time. Wait a month or two and taste again (before racking if
your going to rack).

Our perception of wine can be influenced by a number of factors
including (but not limited to) : Our mood, hunger level, the time of
day, how long you've been awake, what you've had to eat and/or drink,
if you've brushed your teeth recently, how much alcohol you've already
consumed, etc. I try to make adjustment/blending decisions based on
multiple tastes/trials.

The wine also changes over time, but not always predictably. I've had
wines I thought were overly acidic shortly after bottling turn into
nicely balanced wines after some additional bottle age.

My perception? Bottling shock? Evolution of the wine? All of these?

Who knows.

Andy

You are so right! There are times when all my wines disappoint me and then
a week later they are fabulous. I have learned not to trust my taste buds
too much. It depends on your mood and the food you ate and the company and
who knows what else, maybe atmospheric pressure.

Ray

"JEP" > wrote in message
m...
> "> "Bonaquisti" > wrote in message
> > ...
> > > Hi all,
> > >
> > > I made some wine from grapes last year (Zin) and fresh juice (San
> > Giovese). We
> > > tested them and both were low in acidity, so we added tartaric as per
> > > instructions. The wine is clearing nicely, and at every racking, we
> > tasted
> > > some, it always tasted very good for such a young wine. I racked
again
> > > recently, and the wine now tastes very acidic to me, all of the
carboys
> > do!
> > >
> > > My question: Is this a natural chain of events as the wine ages, and
will
> > it
> > > eventually mellow? or is this how it is going to stay? If so, is
there
> > > anything that can be done to "soften" the acidity? Cold
stabilization?
> >
>
> The only thing I have to add is don't do anything based on one sample
> of the wine, especially if the wine tasted good up until this point.
> You have time. Wait a month or two and taste again (before racking if
> your going to rack).
>
> Our perception of wine can be influenced by a number of factors
> including (but not limited to) : Our mood, hunger level, the time of
> day, how long you've been awake, what you've had to eat and/or drink,
> if you've brushed your teeth recently, how much alcohol you've already
> consumed, etc. I try to make adjustment/blending decisions based on
> multiple tastes/trials.
>
> The wine also changes over time, but not always predictably. I've had
> wines I thought were overly acidic shortly after bottling turn into
> nicely balanced wines after some additional bottle age.
>
> My perception? Bottling shock? Evolution of the wine? All of these?
>
> Who knows.
>
> Andy

> Bear in mind that>after ML the pH will be higher than where you set it, so
you may want to>compensate for that by targeting on the low side initially.
For example,<<

Thanks Tom, this is most likely where the additional acidity has come from, as
i didn't notice it before ML at all. In any case, I am starting with cold
stabilizing, have two carboys in the fridge already, and will go from there...
wish me luck, I'll keep ya'll posted!

Thanks all,
PB