Blackberry wine MLF

[Winestar]

I'm starting my second blackberry wine. The first one is a blackberry/blueberry which is bulk aging, tastes a little bit too hot now but might turn great. Now I'm doing a pure blackberry after I got 3kg's of wild blueberries from a friend.

My recipe for 5L:
3kg fresh blueberries (frozen then thawed for extra juice)
3kg frozen blueberries from the store
3 tsp green tea leaves for tannins and fun experimenting
1L merlot grapejuice for healthy yeasties
Sugar till a SG of: 1.080-1.085 (hydrometer couldn't be more precise because of the lees floating in the cylinder.)

And the usual sulphites, pectinase and yeast nutrients. Will throw in some bentonite on 3rd day of primary, and leave it on the gross lees for 5-7 days depending on the speed. Followed with MLF in the carboy. Don't really know the yeast, the names aren't like the ones known here.

Just tested the TA at 1%. I'm thinking about using MLF on this. Since blackberries have a ton of malic acid, I'm guessing this could lower it to around .6%. Since fermentation will lower it slightly as well. Still a low TA considering it's nearly a pure blackberry. Good thing we had all those heatwaves and extreme temperatures in summer. Very sweet blackberries!

Will MLF be sufficient, or could it easily end up too high or low?

 

[Masbustelo]

My opinion is do the mlf. You'll have a better end product. You can always add some tartaric acid afterwards if needed.

 

[Winestar]

That's what I thought, because malic acid is harsh tasting as well.

But what about topping up? I can't just top it up with a wine containing malic acid right? For the first top up I'll have some spare wine seperated, which is also the one that needs most topping. Next top ups are usually not more than 200ml.

I'm thinking of fermenting 1L of just merlot grape juice with the yeast cake and doing a MLF on it as well. And then keep this stored somewhere until I need to top it up. Sounds good?