baco noir wine

Joe - What were the starting numbers for the Baco juice before fermentation and what is the pH and %TA for the wine now? I grow Baco and have made wine from this grape for 6 years and have some thoughts on how to make wine from it.

Bill Frazier Olathe, Kansas USA

Hi Bill

The juice readings were: TA : 1.42%, Brix : 19.5 adjusted to 22

I don't have a ph meter. I am not confident of the TA reading of the finished wine but I am guessing it is around 0.9%.

Joe

fermentation

Joe - We really need to know the pH and TA of your remaining wine to make any recommendations. If you can get good numbers for the remaining wine we can discuss how to adjust. I suspect the acid is still high. There are several ways to lower TA and I've tried most of them with success so there is hope for your remaining wine. The easiest method is to add K bicarbonate. When I do this I hang a pH probe in the bulk wine. Calculate the theoretical amount of K bicarb. to add. Then I add this amount slowly while watching pH rise. With Baco it's tricky because the wine will turn brown if pH gets much above 3.6.

You say you have two 55L DJs of wine left. With this volume of wine you can really improve Baco by putting the wine in a barrel. I age my Baco in a Gibbs Brothers 10 gallon barrel and it really helps the wine. Builds body and adds a real red wine flavor. The oak barrel treatment will really help this wine if you can go that route.

Bill Frazier Olathe, Kansas USA

Thanks for the suggestions Bill. I will try lowering the acid a bit. I will shop around for a PH meter and Oak barrel. They have been on my shopping list for a while.

Joe