MLF

Question 1

Bacteria

Answer 1

• Oenococcus Oeni
• Pediococcus
• Lactobacillus

Example: Chateau Ste Michelle combines two strains: PN-4 (they think makes for softer mouthfeel) and Alpha (they think more focused finish) for Chardonnay.

Question 2

Basic facts

Answer 2

• Prefer a pH of **

- Inhibited by SO2, Lysozyme, temperatures below 52F

Question 3

Examples

Answer 3

Chateau Ste Michelle:
- large-scale winemaking, can’t afford to inoculate every tank. So they build up a big colony in a flex tank and use that to inoculate their Chardonnay.

Houndstooth:

• low pH Barbera of 3.0. Have to inoculate with special freeze-dried ** isolated from Alto Aldige.
  
  • Forlorn Hope uses same fruit but ferments all whole cluster to raise pH and have a native MLF.

Hanzell:
- blocks MLF for freshness

Gimmonnet:
- puts all their Chard through MLF because think Cote des Blancs too acid

Pierre Peters:
- used to do all MLF until 2005, now they do partial due to climate change

Question 4

Diacetyl

Answer 4

• Chateau Ste. Michelle & Rombauer add citric acid when they inoculate to increase diacetyl prodction
• Diacetyl can be consumed by lees

Question 5

pH change

Answer 5

MLF will raise the pH of a wine by 0.1 - 0.3