More Sauvignon Blanc questions
 

Another Sauvignon Blanc question.

I've racked s Sauvignon Blanc off lees after primary and secondary
fermentation. The wine looked a little less opaque and more
translucent which I interpreted to be a decline in yeast population
and a signal for the end of sugar fermentation.

I racked and added 1/2 teaspoon of sulphite to the 4 liter demijohn
and 1/4 teaspoon to the 23 liters carboy. I still see bubbling from
the carboys. Is this CO2 or is malolactic fermentation going on? My
pH probe is broken so I don't have a pH measurement. I'll measure SO2
soon and report, but thought I would ask the question anyway.

I want to inhibit MLF to try and replicate the New Zealand style of
Savignon Blanc.

Any advice?

Dan

"Dan Emerson" > wrote in message
om...
> Another Sauvignon Blanc question.
>
> I've racked s Sauvignon Blanc off lees after primary and secondary
> fermentation. The wine looked a little less opaque and more
> translucent which I interpreted to be a decline in yeast population
> and a signal for the end of sugar fermentation.
>
> I racked and added 1/2 teaspoon of sulphite to the 4 liter demijohn
> and 1/4 teaspoon to the 23 liters carboy.

Why such drastically different amounts of sulfite?

I still see bubbling from
> the carboys. Is this CO2 or is malolactic fermentation going on? My
> pH probe is broken so I don't have a pH measurement. I'll measure SO2
> soon and report, but thought I would ask the question anyway.

To prevent ML you need to maintain sufficient free SO2 all along the way.
That's nearly impossible to do if you (a) don't know what the pH is and (b)
aren't monitoring the free SO2. The bubbling you see may be the primary
tailing off, gas released from adding the sulfite, or ML in progress.

> I want to inhibit MLF to try and replicate the New Zealand style of
> Savignon Blanc.

FWIW, there's more to the NZ style of SB than no oak and no ML. The grapes
are partially harvested underripe to emphasize the grassy character, and
then later at full ripeness or beyond to bring up the sugar. The cuvées are
combined.

Tom S

Hi Dan,

I suggest using Lysozyme at 500ppm to prevent the ML rather than large
doses of sulfite. Of course, if you do, make sure you bentonite fine and
filter prior
to bottling as I've heard lysozyem can cause protein haze later albeit
rather rare.

I've settled on a procedure of pre-fermentation aeration, 500ppm Lysozyme
and
cold fermentation on my whites and I think the results are very nice. I
strongly recommend
the inhibition of ML and cold (45-50F) fermentation for whites as it seems
to help
improve ageability tremendously. Good luck to you!!

CHEERS!

Aaron

"Dan Emerson" > wrote in message
om...
> Another Sauvignon Blanc question.
>
> I've racked s Sauvignon Blanc off lees after primary and secondary
> fermentation. The wine looked a little less opaque and more
> translucent which I interpreted to be a decline in yeast population
> and a signal for the end of sugar fermentation.
>
> I racked and added 1/2 teaspoon of sulphite to the 4 liter demijohn
> and 1/4 teaspoon to the 23 liters carboy. I still see bubbling from
> the carboys. Is this CO2 or is malolactic fermentation going on? My
> pH probe is broken so I don't have a pH measurement. I'll measure SO2
> soon and report, but thought I would ask the question anyway.
>
> I want to inhibit MLF to try and replicate the New Zealand style of
> Savignon Blanc.
>
> Any advice?
>
> Dan