Sauv. Blank looking kinda brown

I just thawed a bucket of Brehm Sauv. Blanc and it's looking a little dark. I've done these in the past and never seem this brown. Obviously I'm going with it but has anyone experienced this before??

Do not add sulfite to that juice. Just get a yeast starter going and add to the juice, add nutrients as required. The brown will drop out once fermentation is complete.

Just wondering how fermentation is going, are things looking better?

Fermentation is moving along good. I have the temp low, 60' so Brix drops, although slower.

Are you sure that this is not a late harvest variety? This could explain the brownish color. Do you know what you starting Brix (or SG) was??

It was a 2015 harvest Sauv. Blanc. The starting brix was 22.8. I emailed the owner of the company and he said that it was indeed oxidized, as they don't sulfite their whites,meow ever it will fall out after fermentation is over and should clear up...

Depending on the condition of the grapes, if sulfite is not added during the crush or oxygen is not completely excluded, enzymatic oxidation can occur quickly turning the must brown. Some wineries deliberately allow this type of oxidation, as long as you don't add sulfite before fermentation, the brown will drop out once fermentation is complete. If you add sulfite to the brown juice before fermentation, the brown will remain.

Yep. That's pretty much what he said.
He also mentioned putting the wine thru malo, however I didn't think that this variety usually did? Thoughts ...

I think you're right, although allowing malolactic fermentation is sometimes used to drop the acidity if it is unusually high. Did you measure or get TA and PH values. It can be done, but it is more difficult to get malolactic to move on low PH wine.

PH 3.06. TA .69
I imagine the ph will rise a bit during fermentation. I'm not sure what's ideal for a Sauv Blanc. Just know they tend to be higher in acid.
And as you said, most bacteria don't like ph values that low

PH/TA figures, sav blancs tend to be very high in acid.

If you are going for a typical Sav Blanc, I would not MLF.


Stickman.. Having never had this problem of browning myself, can you expand on your knowledge of this issue? does this early oxidation have really bad impacts on the finished product? Can adding an antioxidant (e.g. ascorbic acid) stop or even prevent this browning?

This type of oxidation does not usually have any major problems, as long as it is not laccase associated with botrytis, that's a separate discussion. Some things can be done to prevent the oxidation at the crush/juice stage, but by the time we get it it's too late. Some wineries prefer to add sulfite and crush and press in inert gas blanketed equipment, which does prevent the enzyme activity, but leaves the must susceptible to rapid oxidation if this special handling is not maintained throughout. Allowing oxygen contact of the must without so2 allows the oxidation of some components which gives the brown color, but at the same time the enzyme is deactivated therefore leaving the must more stable to further oxidation. There is some loss of polyphenols, but take your pick, high levels of bound so2 or some loss of polyphenols. Higher levels of so2 used pre fermentation cause an increase in the so2 binding once fermentation is complete; i.e. you'll need a higher first dose of so2 post fermentation to achieve your desired free ppm. Ascorbic acid can be used in addition to so2, it helps, but be warned, if oxygen exposure is not limited, once the ascorbic acid is spent the oxidation and browning will be faster than without ascorbic acid. Ascorbic acid is best used when the must and wine are protected with inert gas.

I'm not an authority on the subject, but I have made a couple of batches (Riesling, Gewürztraminer) that had some enzymatic browning and they turned out fine, once the fermentation was complete, the brown particulate dropped out and the wine was clear. As far as I could tell the flavor was good, in fact very good, but unfortunately I didn't have anything for comparison.