Preventing MLF and fining Chardonnay

[byrondahl]

I will be blending my unoaked/non ml Chardonnay with one aged in oak and went through ml. Suggestions on preventing ml from restarting after blending? I don't trust sulfites alone.

Second question deals with clearing/fining prior to bottling. Any suggestions?

 

[grapeman]

Sorry for taking a while to answer you but I have been really busy trying to prune the vineyard. It has been a challenge with snow almost every day but warmer weather is coming.

Proper sulfite levels should keep the blend from going through mlf for quite some time, but eventually the sulfite may get tied up enough that mlf could begin again.

If you use lysozyme in the blend, that should prevent the mlb from kicking in again. Be sure to dose the blend and not just the one that went through mlf. That would not give a high enough dose to prevent it.

Why do you want to blend the two out of curiosity. The one should give you a nice buttery oaky chardonnay while the other will give you a fruit forward one. The blend won't be really either. I would do a bench trial of the two to make sure that is what you want before committing both barrels.

As far a clearing, is it cloudy or is their suspended yeast? Use different agents for different purposes. I generally just let time do it's thing unless there is a problem that needs helping out.

 

[byrondahl]

I don't like a full 100%. Ml/Oaked Chardonnay. That's why I blend the ml/Oaked wine with the one done in stainless. That way I get one that is 50%.

Here's an additional issue. I have used lysozyme in the past, but got a haze after bottling. So, I've done heat stabilization using bentonite and then done a cold stabilization. The question here is the timing of lysozyme, bentonite and cold stabilization. I've also filtered with an absolute filter, still got a haze in the bottle.

I live in the SF Bay Area. I was just up in Sonoma visiting a grower I buy from, he already has fruit on both Chardonnay and Pinot. That's why you couldn't drag me out of California.

Any ideas are appreciated. Good luck with this year's harvest. No water here, could be a tough year!

 

[grapeman]

Have you tested the wine for a pectin haze? If not, that might be the cause of the haze and could be remedied.

I totally understand about mixing the two batches. Sometimes the sum of two creates something much better than either of the individual wines.

Good luck on getting some rains eventually. If not there are a lot of crop failures coming up there.

 

[Julie]

Have you thought of using Lavlin 1122 to ferment your Chardonnay?

 

[byrondahl]

I like D 47. Best suited for ml chards.

 

[byrondahl]

Most established vines don't need watering until July. Watch the canopy. Hope for the best.

 

[grapeman]

I think Julie was thinking of using 71B-1122 for it's ability to convert some of the malic acid without the need to use mlf at all. I really like D47 also and the mlf helps round it out and make it smooth and buttery. Good combo.

 

[byrondahl]

So getting back to my original question, if I decide to use lysozyme and want to both heat and cold stabilize the Chardonnay, what would you suggest for the sequence? I would think the lysozyme would be added, wait a week or two, rack off, then fine with bentonite, wait another week or two, then cold stabilize. Your thoughts?