Springtime has arrived (sort of) in Canterbury and that means the cellar is starting to warm up a little. All our Pinot Noir will now start its secondary fermentation, the Malolactic fermentation. As the wine warms up the natural bacteria in the wine start eating up all the Malic acid and converting it into Lactic acid. Malic acid is the green apple tasting type that isnt really welcome in Pinot Noir (or, in any great amount, in my whites either for that matter).
Just going back a step, the malic acid in each berry is respired out of the berry during the season with the higher the temperature meaning the more Malic is respired. So in cooler climate winegrowing regions the berry tends to retain more malic acidity, which comes across as green and tart. Unlike the other major acid in grapes, tartaric acid, which is more citric and ripe tasting.
Just going back a step, the malic acid in each berry is respired out of the berry during the season with the higher the temperature meaning the more Malic is respired. So in cooler climate winegrowing regions the berry tends to retain more malic acidity, which comes across as green and tart. Unlike the other major acid in grapes, tartaric acid, which is more citric and ripe tasting.
Anyway, so in Pinot Noir (and most reds) we try to lose that Malic by having the bugs turn it into the softer, rounder Lactic acid. For every 1g/L of Malic that is consumed, 0.5g/L of Lactic are produced. This can occur naturally or you can add freeze-dried bacteria to the wine to do the job. Neither of them can handle cold wine or too much sulphur so care is needed.
Should take a few weeks and then I can finally add some SO2 to the wine for the remainder of its life in barrel.
No comments:
Post a Comment