marquette numbers - oy vey

[GreginND]

I helped harvest 300 pounds of Marquette today from a local grower. A couple weeks ago she said the pH was 2.9 and I was hoping the extra 10 days would raise it above 3. I got them crushed and destemmed. I took a juice sample for testing myself.

Brix 25.2
pH 2.74
TA 13.4 g/L

I have the must stored away in the freezer and will not ferment them for a few months. So I have time to figure out what to do. And I'll check the numbers again when I thaw them out. But I am very disappointed with the acid. I don't know what to do with it. That's a lot of adjusting to do even to start. Any thoughts on how to deal with this?

Thanks.

 

[grapeman]

The first thing I would do is get some fresh calibration solutions and double check the meter. Maybe even try another meter instead. That seems out of whack for sure. If it is truly that low then you either need to bring the pH up with maybe calcium carbonate or dilute the must some with water to get the pH up a bit. Maybe try a small amount and see how much water you need to add to get it to an acceptable level. You can then bring the sugar levels back to desired range.

 

[GreginND]

Unfortunately, I think the pH is correct. I double checked it with a freshly calibrated pH meter and fresh buffer solutions. I was testing several other wines as well and using to do titrations and they all seem fine.

This is a case of a grower who didn't know what they were doing. The vineyard looked immaculate. But when I got up close and started picking the grapes I realized she had pruned off most of the fruiting canes just beyond the clusters. There were NO leaves feeding the grapes from the fruiting canes. I don't know how long ago they were pruned, but I do know it was well before they finished ripening. I'm surprised the sugars got as high as they did. I think she thought she was opening up the grapes to the light and making it easier to harvest. Let's just say I educated her a bit on how to grow grapes, and I've never grown a crop before! These marquette vines were also being transitioned from TWC to VSP and she had two fruiting zones.

 

[ibglowin]

I finally harvested mine this weekend. With all the rain we had this month I kept holding off trying to get the brix up. Crushed yesterday PM. I ended up with a pH of 3.45 Will check TA and SG this afternoon.

 

[BeeWine]

If they were mine I would ferment first and try to deal with the acid later . Asidex Super-K and cold stabilization should bring the acid in line.
Marquette's are not high in flavor so adding water to the must would not be recomended!
The Marquette's we grow here run about 11 plus G/L .

John

 

[grapeman]

Really...? Marquettes aren't high in flavor there? Here they have a lot of flavor, just not lambrusca. I agree adding water is never desireable, but that is a really low pH so beginning MLF will not happen unless the pH comes up. You would need to finish fermentation your way, test the wine, adjust and hope you can get the wine going through mlf. By adjusting a bit with water the acid levels will come in line so that he can ferment and run mlf.

 

[BeeWine]

Grapeman

Gregin did not mention MLF so I wrote the post with that in mind.

John

 

[grapeman]

John Marquette definitely benefits from mlf in most cases and clearly could help with his high amount of acid. I understand your methods you recommend and they would help. I am merely expressing another treatment route for Greg.

 

[GreginND]

Of course MLF is in the plan. I was expecting the pH to be more like 3.1 which is workable. My plan was to use 71b and then mlf with lalvin 31. But now I have to really do some major adjusting up front. I'll probably try calcium carbonate. I hate to dilute it. Ii wanted to make as big a red as I could but maybe I need to rethink what style of wine I should aim for. Maybe this one ends up being turned into an easy drinking sweeter red.

 

[GreginND]

On another note, I am seeing large pH differences from just pressed juice and must that has sat for a day. So, I expect when I thaw this out the pH will be higher.

 

[BigH]

Hey Greg, sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I am curious how this batch turned out and how you dealt the pH.

 

[salcoco]

is blending with another Marquette with better numbers and option. might be easier to adjust. another though is commercial juice with better numbers.

 

[GreginND]

Thanks for bringing this back up. Actually the wine turned out really really great. I only made 8 cases and sold out in the first two weeks of the winery season this year. I took extra measures to deal with the acid from initial treatment to choosing a malic eating yeast and ML fermentation.

Here are the details:

285 pounds of Marquette harvested in 2013, crushed and frozen
at crush: pH 2.74, TA 13.4 g/L (1.34%), BRIX 24.4

Thawed Nov 2015
pH 2.87, TA 8.3 g/L (0.83%)
1 gal must removed and treated with 175 g CaCO3 for 30 min then added back to the bulk

The next day
pH 3.44
TA 7.5 g/L
BRIX 25

Fermented with Lalvin 71b-1122 for 7 days on the skin then pressed to produce about 20 gal wine.

MBR 31 ML bacterial added on day 2 of fermentation and secondary fermentation proceeded for 5 weeks
Ending pH 3.55

It was aged in carboys with french oak for almost 18 months. It had a wonderful balance, nice cherry fruit and hints of mocha/dark cocoa. I'm sad I only have one case put away.

 

[BigH]

Thanks for the follow up. Interesting how the TA dropped just from being frozen. Was that expected? Was 7.5 g/L your target TA when you added the chalk?

I have some crushed Marquette that is similar to yours, but not quite as hot

Brix 24.1
pH 3.1
TA 9.75

Entering a totally new phase now. This is my first batch.

H^2