Sulphite Question

[pinecreek]

Hi everyone my name is Syd and I am from Ontario Canada. I have a 4 year old vineyard with mostly Marechal Foch, Baco Noir, and Vidal, also have some experimental rows of sabrevois, st. pepin, frontenac and st. croix. I dont live in a traditional grape growing region so hence my grape selection. This is only my second attempt at making wine from fresh grapes so please bear with me.. I have a batch of marechal foch that i just pressed off last night. It had been fermenting on the skins etc for 1 week. On the advice of my friend and neighbour who has been growing grapes and making wine for almost 15 years he had suggested on not sulphiting the must before adding yeast. He only adds a little in before bottling. Any how i cant help but reading everywhere that sulphiting is critical for this and that and I am looking for more opinions.. I am gonna add malo culture in the next couple of days and know how it is very sensitive to sulphite. Can I or should I add a LITTLE sulphite as to not inhibit mlf or should I stay the course now and wait until after mlf and add a lil at bottling? I am just a little concerned because I was a little late harvesting this year and the grapes were in less than perfect condition..Thanks

 

[GreginND]

No, do not add sulfite at this point. Some people add it at crush 24 hours before pitching the yeast to knock down bacteria and wild yeasts. That gets bound up during primary fermentation. If you didn't do it then, don't worry. Your wine will be fine.

If you are going to do MLF, wait until it is done before adding sulfite. Once you get to that point you should keep the SO2 levels up during aging. If you don't have a means to test, I would add enough to reach ~50 ppm (1 campden tablet per gallon or 0.4 g potassium metabisulfite powder per gallon). Then add that every other racking and before you bottle. Not exact but a pretty good protocol to follow. I've done that many times with no problems.

 

[pinecreek]

Hey GreginND I really appreciate the fast response. That is exactly what I wanted to hear!

 

[ckvchestnut]

Hi everyone my name is Syd and I am from Ontario Canada. I have a 4 year old vineyard with mostly Marechal Foch, Baco Noir, and Vidal, also have some experimental rows of sabrevois, st. pepin, frontenac and st. croix. I dont live in a traditional grape growing region so hence my grape selection. This is only my second attempt at making wine from fresh grapes so please bear with me.. I have a batch of marechal foch that i just pressed off last night. It had been fermenting on the skins etc for 1 week. On the advice of my friend and neighbour who has been growing grapes and making wine for almost 15 years he had suggested on not sulphiting the must before adding yeast. He only adds a little in before bottling. Any how i cant help but reading everywhere that sulphiting is critical for this and that and I am looking for more opinions.. I am gonna add malo culture in the next couple of days and know how it is very sensitive to sulphite. Can I or should I add a LITTLE sulphite as to not inhibit mlf or should I stay the course now and wait until after mlf and add a lil at bottling? I am just a little concerned because I was a little late harvesting this year and the grapes were in less than perfect condition..Thanks

Hey Pinecreek! Whereabouts in Ontario are you located? Or what is your growing hardiness zone? I'm in eastern Ontario and am looking to add more species of grapes here at the farm. I see you already got your answer so sorry this is off topic!

 

[pinecreek]

Hi Chestnut. I live in Northumberland county, south side of rice lake. 5a or 4b i think is the hardiness zone. Good luck

 

[ckvchestnut]

Hi Chestnut. I live in Northumberland county, south side of rice lake. 5a or 4b i think is the hardiness zone. Good luck

Thanks for your response! Where do you buy your vines from? I'm in 4b myself.

 

[pinecreek]

I got the foch, baco and vidal from Vine Tech in Niagara and the others from a place in Quebec... Voloaca I think is the name. Great vine survival rate from both places.

 

[ckvchestnut]

I got the foch, baco and vidal from Vine Tech in Niagara and the others from a place in Quebec... Voloaca I think is the name. Great vine survival rate from both places.

Thanks I vaguely remember hearing about the place in QC. I'll do a search for these places.