New poster here with a question about acid additions. I have a '16 rose that needs a small bump up in acid, perhaps 0.5 to 1.0 g/L, and my boss suggested I use citric acid rather than tartaric to make the addition. I had never heard of this, but he claimed it has less of a bite than tartaric. I did a triangle test with a 1.0 g/L citric addition and a 1.0 g/L tartaric addition and could in fact tell the difference, and I preferred the citric sample which seemed less sharp. My concern is only that citric acid can be metabolized by lactic acid bacteria to produce diacetyl. This rose went through partial ML and has been sulfured, so this probably isn’t a concern especially considering such a small citric addition.
Are you going to sterile filter to keep the partial malolactic just partial? If so, I think a citric addition would be fine. If you’re not sterile filtering, I’d worry about the citric acid being metabolized. But most importantly, are you sure it needs an acid addition?
I know some who prefer citric adds to whites over tartaric. Something about popping the fruit on the nose more. If I recall tartaric is a stronger acid (moves pH more). If I were to do a side by side tasting I would be doing .8 g/l tartaric vs. 1.0 g/l citric. I would also be tasting many options by .1 intervals to find where you like the add to be. i.e. given the range you mentioned .5, .6, .7, .8, .9, 1.0.
I only add acid if needed on day 1 or 2 so it integrates. A late add this big I would think would show on the finished wine. If I were to add I would find the amount I liked best by taste and back it down by .1 or so to try and not let it stand out as much on the finished wine I assume your going to release in spring. If your going to hold it longer in bottle (under cork) or if its in neutral oak and not stainless I think the add will integrate faster.
Not sure where your located and maybe its just me working with PN for so long but a 1.0g/l add I would not consider small even if it was on day 1 or 2 of the ferment.
1.0g/L of tartaric is only going to lower the pH by about 0.1 pH, so not that big. It will be less so with the citric, and yes, citric seems to bring out the floral. I used to do it from time to time on Viognier, and people loved it.
If I recall, Citric is Triprotic and Tartaric is Diprotic, and molecular wt is 192 vs 150 (That part I looked up) so gram for gram, Citric will contribute more (in theory at least) to the perception of tartness and Tartaric will affect pH more since it is “stronger” (contributes H’s more easily.) Is the primary goal to affect pH or the perception of tartness? I do think the “sharpness” of Tartaric changes once it has had time to “integrate” into the wine.