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Colorado Merlot Numbers

Hello, I just ran the numbers for Colorado Merlot I got in yesterday.

Sugar: 23.5 Brix (Refactive Index, calibrated w/ distilled water to

0.0) pH: 3.70 (Meter calibrated to 4.01) Acid: 6.8% (NaOH Titration method using a pH meter to determine the endpoint, meter calibrated to 7.01) Sample Temperature: 65F Pick Date: 10/10/2006 Crush Date: 10/11/2006 Maceration: 10 hours at 50F prior to sampling

I'm not comfortable w/ the pH, esp since I plan on doing MLF, but the Acid looks good. What do you guys think: close enough go forward w/ fermentation, or add acid to bring the pH down to 3.5ish? Also, does the maceration time affect the numbers? Thanks! -David

Reply to
David D.
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I agree David...pH at 3.70 before fermentation is too high when you plan on ML fermentation also. The ML will raise pH by about 0.2 pH units. This will make it hard to protect the wine with SO2. You could consider adding tartaric acid to lower the pH to 3.40 - 3.45 before fermentation. Plan on doing a hard cold condition after all fermentation is complete which should drop a lot of excess K bitartrate out of the wine. Not sure about maceration at 50F for 10 hours. My guess is it wasn't long enough to drop much acid out of solution. BTW, were these Merlot grown in Colorado and if so where?

Bill Frazier Olathe, Kansas USA

Reply to
William Frazier

Thanks for the reality check Bill. The grapes were grown in the Palisade, Colorado...our major grape growing region in CO. It's a high desert region, where most vinyards are 4,500 - 6,000 feet above sea level. They grow a great Syrah here, but most of the growers were overcommited on it this year, so I had to settle w/ Merlot.

William Frazier wrote:

Reply to
David D.

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