0630
Not taking any direct readings this morning.
Everything looking exactly as you would hope. Super-clean. Each vessel's airlock popping every few seconds. All those mesmerizing pinprick bubbles sliding upward along the surface of the carboys.
Now the big question to consider: malolactic fermentation? What do we want to do? Promote it? Inhibit it? Just let the juice do what it wants to do and hope that MLF doesn't start or continue after we've bottled the wine for the party? We know we are not using oak: does that dictate anything re MLF for Chardonnay? The little reading we've done is not conclusive on the last point. We'll need to decide in the next few days. Green apples, or golden apples?
Here's a typically unhelpful (to me) article in Wine Industry Advisor. Something judgemental from Wine Folly. Maybe there's something helpful in this Wine Enthusiast article -
An unoaked version could also have buttery flavors, because the wine can still undergo malolactic fermentation in any type of container. Toad Hollow Vineyards has a perfect example of this in their Francine’s Selection Unoaked Chardonnay from Mendocino, which brings the butter without the oak.
So, quick, let's go get a bottle and taste it.
And, for what it's worth, when we made Chardonnay in 2016 we did not prevent or promote MLF, and we kept the free SO2 low - lower than I'd be comfortable doing this year. And in December MLF started up on it's own.
2100
- Brix = 1.0
Juice is at ambient room temperature. Measured brix from a single carboy. Will rotate going forward.
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