John, will you explain how cold stabilizing will cause acids to settle? Did I misunderstand? Acid in sediments? I ask as the fall batch will need to be stored in an unheated garage. Just about to rack off primary. Bulk ageing. Presently about 62*. Not much nightly temperature swings, but it will only get colder..... How cold is too cold?
Cab Sav.
PinotNoir
Sauvingnon blanc
Simplistically, the ability of a liquid to maintain solutes in solution is variable, and in part dependent upon temperature. This is why we can heat up water and dissolve a large amount of sugar into it, compared to how much will dissolve into room temperature water. Same is true with wine. Wine is more complex than water, but just grasp the concept for the moment.
Drop the temperature of a wine, and some of the components will precipitate out of solution as its ability to maintain the solute in solution decreases. When we make wine at room temps, in the 70's or so, there are components that are perfectly stable at that temp. If you age your wine at 75, bottle at 75, then put it into the cellar or fridge at 55F or 34F, odds are that some of the tartaric acid will precipitate out and form what we call wine diamonds. More will precipitate out at 32F than at 55F. If you cellar your red wines at 55F like I do, it makes sense to bulk age them at that temp or slightly lower, to allow that precipitation to take place prior to bottling. Wine diamonds aren't a fault, but I don't like them in my wines, so I let it happen naturally prior to bottling. So, you could say that my wines are "cold stable" down to 55F, but if they were put into a fridge at 34F, precipitation would likely occur, and change the pH and TA of the wine.
Given the above, CS at or slightly below cellar / storage temps makes sense to prevent precipitation in your bottles. CS is also a tool that we can employ to remove acid from wine that we feel is too acidic. It's not about trying to make your wine stable at cellar temps, it's about modifying the acidity in the wine. Lots of folks will CS their wines down to near freezing to precipitate as much of the acid out as they can, in an effort to reduce the acidity. (Sidebar, a wine with a pH higher than 3.6 will see an increase in pH with this activity, but a wine with a pH lower than 3.6 will actually see its pH decrease. It's a complex chemical reaction, you can look it up on line if you're interested). This will also remove the potential for wine diamonds. Many commercial wine producers, particularly white wines, CS their wines near freezing because they can't afford to have wine diamonds form in their bottles, and they have no control how cold customers will store their wine once they take it home. Many consumers stick wines in the fridge at 34F, despite the fact that it's way too cold to serve. It is also true that cold temps can help your wine clear, but time will generally do the trick there as well.
All of that said, if you want your wine to be stable regardless of the storage temp, go ahead and CS it at 32F before bottling, but the wine in bottles will precipitate in the bottles, and know that it will affect the acidity of the wine, and potentially the taste. If you are endeavoring to affect the acidity, it's a great tool to use, but CS down to 32F is not necessarily a "standard step" in the creation of wine.
So for the three wines you listed, the two reds wouldn't mind being stored in the low 50's for a while, and they'd be stable for normal cellar temps for reds, and you probably won't lose much acidity. Whites are usually stored and served cooler than reds, so if they got down below 50 during the winter, they'd be stable at white wine cellar temps, but not if you stick them in the fridge at 34F. Tried not to make this too complicated........make sense???