OVHA Chat

I assume that, since acidity is not an issue, I should rack at least once to make the clarification process a bit easier?
From looking at Peter, Chris and Chris posts, bottling should be about 3-4 months away yet?
Is temperature less critical at this point?
I guess it is safe to say that taste is virtually there at at this point or does character change significantly during next four months or so?

I transfer at 1 week, 3 weeks, and then at 3 months. I age for 1 year total before bottling. Unless you are going to filter, I would recommend this. Your bottles will have to be decanted otherwise. I age one year in bottles then and the flavor is much different between 1 to 3 years. We have occasionally drank a 10 year old bottle that makes you want to age it all.

Thanks!

The temperature is not as critical at this point - anywhere between 60 and 75 roughly and you'll be fine.

The taste does change significantly in the first few months due to yeast settling, spontaneous malolactic fermentation, tannins mellowing, etc.

If you're making something to be served cold I would encourage you to put your wine in a very cold refrigerator for a couple of weeks to precipitate out some of the calcium tartrate that would otherwise precipitate out in the bottle/glass. This is for asthetic purposes as well as an aid in clarification. If you have made it down to the bottom of a bottle of really cold white and it had sandy or crystal looking residue that's what I am talking about. In fact, here is an article with a picture: http://blog.wineenthusiast.com/2008/05/ ... ey-matter/

By the way, in the article above, the line about: "The higher quality a wine is, the more likely it is to have tartrates. This is because good wines are not cold stabilized, filtered or over processed, in order to preserve the intricacies and subtle character of the wine." - Ignore that crap.