Chardonnay Choices, Fruit Wines: Wine Wizard

I have 7 gallons (26 L) of 2009 Chardonnay made from home-grown grapes. This was my first year of production from these vines and I did not use oak or MLF. Fermentation was normal and I clarified with bentonite, then cold stabilized. I recently tested it at 3.16 pH, 0.53 TA and 40 ppm SO2 and thought it was ready to bottle. However, a chilled sample (40 °F/4 °C) tasted slightly bitter and a little too acidic. Is it too late to try MLF and do you think it might help? Is it too late to add some oak chips and would that help its character? Garth BrownAlpine, California Before you set about making any major changes to this wine, make sure that when you taste you are not tasting a sample that has a lot of dissolved carbon dioxide gas in it. Tiny bubbles can be refreshing in a white or pink wine, but they can contribute to a sense of sharpness and a perception of increased acidity, essentially because dissolved carbon dioxide gas (+ water=carbonic acid) will actually