Blend before or after MLF?

[Siwash]

Hey folks,

About to carry out an MLF for the first time. I've used sangiovese and merlot grapes. Should I blend them before? After? I am about to rack off gross lees before inoculating with MLB.

Thoughts? What's your approach?

 

[heatherd]

@Siwash I blend after MLF.

 

[ceeaton]

The idea of blending can usually happen two ways. Either you do a field blend, where you mix the destemed and crushed grapes and ferment together, or you blend after they are fermented. The advantage of blending afterwards is you get to do trials and see what percentages of each wine mixed together tastes best.

The problem if you blend before MLF is that the taste will change with the lowering of the malic acid content and some other flavor changes attributed to the MLB. So your blend might not be what you were looking for. But if you wait until after MLF, when your wine is stable (biologically and chemically as far as taste) the outcome of your bench trials are more likely to survive through bottle aging.

Hope that makes sense, if not, it's because I'm drinking.

 

[Siwash]

Makes sense... thanks!