Reducing Acidity of Wine
TroubleShooting
Bill Thompson — Andover, Minnesota asks,
Last year I made a rosé from Marquette. At the time of fermentation, the juice was pH 3.33 and TA 10.0 g/L. I decided to ferment the juice even though the acid was a little high. After fermentation, the color of the rosé was great and very clear. The nose was a beautiful strawberry. Unfortunately, the wine was too crisp because the acid was too high. I decided to reduce the acidity with potassium bicarbonate. I conducted some bench trials and decided to use half of what I thought would be the right amount. The addition was conducted and the wine became cloudy. This was fixed by using Sparkolloid. In preparation for this fall, I am assuming the Marquette juice will still have a higher titratable acidity (TA) than I want. I want to shoot for a TA around 7.0 g/L or less and would prefer to do as little as possible to the wine after fermentation. Does it make sense to test the juice and adjust the acidity of the juice prior to fermentation? Do you still recommend potassium bicarbonate to decrease the acidity? Finally, do you recommend I cold stabilize the rosé prior to bottling?