Making a buttery Chardonnay?

Busabill · Feb 8, 2017

Chardonay!! Now if we can just get the bubbles out!!

zadvocate · Feb 10, 2017

NorCal,
What did you end up doing? I want to do a bucket chard from Chile. I am curious as to what yeast and MLB you used, whether you co-innoculated or did MLF after AF. Did it come out buttery as you wanted?

JohnT · Feb 10, 2017

Looks great!

One request.. When finished, could you post a close up pic of some in a tasting glass. I would love to see the color and clarity you have there.

NorCal · Feb 10, 2017

JohnT said:
Looks great!

One request.. When finished, could you post a close up pic of some in a tasting glass. I would love to see the color and clarity you have there.

Thanks, here ya go:

NorCal · Feb 10, 2017

zadvocate said:
NorCal,
What did you end up doing? I want to do a bucket chard from Chile. I am curious as to what yeast and MLB you used, whether you co-innoculated or did MLF after AF. Did it come out buttery as you wanted?

23.5 brix, 3.2 pH, D47 yeast, Beta mlf. Destemmed, crushed, pressed day1. Fermented in 65-69 degree environment with ice jugs; trying for as slow a ferment as possible. MLB added when wine was dry. I can't say it's a "butterball", but there is no residual sugar and I think a nicely balanced wine. The most important thing is that my biggest critic, my wife, really likes it. This was the goal from the beginning, and a difficult one to achieve.

geek · Feb 10, 2017

Nice wine.
My Chard made from grapes was tasting fantastic until I decided to cold stabilize (without checking pH) due to a haze issue, it did clear nicely but it stripped some of the flavor, still good but not as good as before.