What about acidity in champagne making?

[hereistay]

Hi there,
I'm from Italy and I live in Abruzzo, were we have a lot of vineyards.
We do not have a tradition for sparkling wine but in the last 2 years I'm trying to make champagne.
I tried to find something about the maximum total acidity values but I cannot find anything.
I made two wines a Chardonnay and a Pecorino D'abruzzo and I'm going to make the second fermentation in bottles in February 2017.
I tried to harvest them in the optimal period, the alcohol is ok but I don't understand if the acidity is high.
These are my values:

Chardonnay:
Alcohol 10.8% Vol.
Total Acidity 9.2 g/l

Pecorino D'Arbuzzo:
Alcohol 10% Vol.
Total Acidity 10.5 g/l

I read that 10g/l is a good value, but I don't know why the values of the final product are lower...is the malolactic fermentation that decrease the acidity of 2-3g/l?
This acidity is going to naturally decrease, anyway.

 

[cintipam]

Welcome, hereisty

I can't offer you any advice, but hopefully someone who has made champagne will pop in shortly. I don't think many folks make real champagne here, but I do know several who just carbonate a nice white wine and are quite happy with their results. Your question is a mix of expertise on grape growing, picking, wine making, and champagne making. That's a whole lot of big shoes to fill for one person.

Pam in cinti

 

[Norton]

I've done a few sparkling wines, some even on purpose. I'm currently using Riesling from a kit. I did not add any additional pot meta or sorbate to it after it cleared. I just drew off a gallon and added about 20 grams of sugar and then bottled.

 

[stickman]

Yes, malolactic fermentation will reduce the acidity, sometimes considerably, as grapes harvested early contain a higher percentage of malic acid than typical. The malolactic fermentation should be complete before you bottle ferment. Once ML is complete, you can adjust the acid to taste if needed. If malolactic fermentation takes place in the bottle it will cause off flavors.

 

[hereistay]

About off flavours I don't agree, I read that champagne makers does not use to start malolactic fermentation.

 

[stickman]

There are a lot of details. If the PH is very low the malolactic fermentation may not happen, but filtration is also used to remove the bacteria if ML is not complete or desired. Here is some information that can help.

View attachment Champenoise Winemaking Recipe.pdf