adding acid late in the game

[KarinS]

Newbie here.



I just educated myself about acid testing and adjustment this
year. I'm ready to go with my new musts, but I have a question
about my 2005 wine.



My 2005 reds are still in carboys and I was getting ready to bottle
today. Armed with my new acid test kit, I found my syrah tests at
.40% and my merlot at .65%. The syrah tastes nice and smooth
now...although since I'm relatively inexperienced that may just be
"flabby" due to low acid. The merlot is punching and obviously
needs a bit more time but it is good too. So I'm wondering...



1. Do I bottle the two separately and drink the syrah as fast as I can?

2. Do I attempt to blend the two, I tried a 50/50 blend and it tested at .50%.

3. Can I add acid this late in the game? They have been in
carboys for a year. If I do, can I bottle immediately?

3. A low acid wine like the syrah, when will it fade into a
really flabby uninteresting wineif I do nothing? How long do I
have?



Thank you in advance for any advice, opinion etc.

 

[Joseph1]

You indicated that a 50/50 blend tested at 0.50%, how did it taste? If the blend was not as good as the individual wines, I would not consider blending.<?amespace prefix = o ns = "urnchemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" />

In his book “Home Winemaking Step by Step”, Jon Iverson indicates that it is possible to increase the acidity post fermentation up to 0.15% (1.5 g/l) without an adverse affect on taste. It can be done during bulk aging, increasing a little each time the wine is racked, rather than a single large adjustment.

I have not tried this so I don’t know if it will accomplish your goal. I would do one of the following.

1. I would rack the wine to a clean sanitized carboy containing sufficient tartaric acid to increase acidity by 0.05%. After a month or two, I would repeat the process increasing acidity by 0.05%, then bottle.

2. I would rack the wine to a clean sanitized carboy containing sufficient tartaric acid to increase acidity by 0.10%. After a month or two, I would bottle.
This would increase the acidity of your Syrah to about 0.50%. Perhaps this will spark some suggestions from others.