Malolactic Fermentation - Necessary or preference for Syrah?

[Tom Benjamin]

Hi there,

First time winemaker here. My family grows and sells a small amount of Syrah in Sonoma Valley and I decided to make a 10 gallon batch this year. From reading online it seems that MLF is mostly used to soften acids, however we pick our Syrah at low brix (21-22) and tend to like an acid-forward wine. Because of this i'm deciding not to put the wine through MLF. Is this a mistake or just a stylistic decision?

Thanks!

 

[NorCal]

Stylistic for sure, but you would just need to prevent the possibility of spontaneous mlf in the bottle. Keep the final SO2 above 50ppm and that should do it.