What is malolactic fermentation? Simply put, when the wine is pressed it contains a mix of tartaric acid, malic acid but no acetic acid. The wine at this stage is tart. This is good for Sauvignon blanc but not so good for red wine. Red wine in the presence of bacteria will convert the malic acit to acetic acid. This will raise the pH but more importantly will give the wine a much softer feel in your mouth. All red wines undergo MLF, but only a few white do this….mainly Chardonnay and some Sauvignon blanc’s.
In our case, we are doing MLF on half of Nona’s Sauvignon blanc and all of the Pinot noir.