Chardonnay Acidity Questions

Hard to say as the wine was never brought back to cold temperatures again. You should weigh pros and cons of having possibly some small amount of crystals in the wine in the end vs. overworking the wine with repeated cold stabilizations.

If the wine is unstable then yes, filtering won't help because there are no crystals at this point.

You can do either, the 1st option is easier and if you'll work with the same grower, you have the advantage of knowing better what to expect from the wine. In your case it sounds like you could add about

Pp

Gentlemen - sage advice from all and I really appreciate your comments.

I hadn't considered citric acid before because of a perception that it is readily noticeable in a non-fruit-forward wine like Chardonnay. That said, I'm going to assemble a panel of critics - otherwise known as friends, family, and neighbours - and run them through a series of citric addition trials. We'll see how it goes.

I like the idea of determining malate before ferment and correcting the must accordingly. I haven't researched this yet, but wonder what's involved in the testing. I currently do free S02 by vacuum aspiration, TA by titration, and pH by meter. First year chemistry was a few years (decades..) ago, but I'm remembering more with every vintage.

Interesting comment on the direction of pH swing during cold stabilisation. Why would the pH go down if hydrogen ions were being used up to form potassium bi-tartrate? I thought the process always drove the number up.

Thanks again and best regards, Darin