sour taste

circle · Oct 29, 2013

I made red wine from zinfandel and syrah grapes approximately two months ago. After the primary fermentation, I racked the wine and pressed the skins and placed the wine in a glass carboy under air lock. I have approximately 54 litres of wine. Two days ago, I racked the wine to remove it from the lees and I added ten crushed campden tablets.

I tasted the wine and it had a citric or sour taste. I tested the acid level and it was about 6.5.

I didn't see any bubbles after racking the wine from the primary fermentation. Did my wine not go into malolactic fermentation? Is it too late to start mlf?

GreginND · Oct 29, 2013

Did you add ML bacteria? Also, you don't want to add sulfite if you want to do MLF. The SO2 will inhibit the bacteria.

I presume your acid number of 6.5 is the TA, not the pH. That TA is perfectly fine. What is the pH? Are you using any oak? That can help round out the flavors.

Duster · Oct 29, 2013

GreginND is correct about needing to add the MLF bacteria if you want malolactic fermentation to occur.
Also you mentioned this is only 2 months old. Give it time to mature, Reds can take several months sometimes a couple of years to fully mature.

circle · Oct 30, 2013

Thanks for the replies. I don't have the equipment to take the PH reading and I also didn't add ML bacteria. I put some oak chips in the must during primary fermentation but they're now removed. I will bulk age the wine for several more months (the longer the better) and possibly rack it again when required. When I reviewed my notes from last years batch of wine, it tasted good around this time of year. What would you suggest to lessen the sour taste a little?