Cold Stabilizing

[bryan]

Hello,

I am going to start to cold stabilize my Pinot Grigio. I started it in mid Sept and racked it from primary to secondary 10 days later, then 4 weeks later I racked and put in campden tablets into a clean carboy. It has been that way for almost 4 weeks. My question is should I rack it again into a clean carboy or just start to do the cold stablization. And for how long should I do that for and what is the best tempeture to keep it at. This is not a kit it was made with fresh juice buckets. And the last question will the cold stabilizing help with my merlot and grenache wines as well or should I only do it to the white wines.


Thanks in advance for all the help,

Bryan

 

[Manimal]

I personally wouldn't rack again at this point. With a light white like Pinot Grigio you want to be especially sure to avoid oxidation, so try to keep racking to a minimum from here on in. Light whites usually don't improve with age, so you'll probably be bottling by 6 months max, so unless you've still got lots of lees and sediment in the carboy (which you shouldn't after the first two rackings) I'd just cold-stabilize in the current carboy. As for your Merlot and Grenache, cold stabilization is really done mainly for aesthetic purposes... so that tartrates don't precipitate in the wine due to chilling once it's bottled. Unless you foresee your reds becoming well chilled, it's not really necessary. It will decrease acidity slightly, so if your juice comes from California or another warm region where acid is already low, you probably want to avoid it. It might smooth and round out the wine a little more, but you have to weigh that against losing freshness and vitality due to lower acidity.