Opened a 2018 Moreau-Naudet Montanans Chablis to quaff while watching football. Maybe it’s the ripe vintage but the the wine just lacked the acid finish I like in Chablis. Noticed a bottle of citric acid on the counter we used to can all the extra tomatoes we had.
Put a pinch in an open glass and was surprised how much lift and balance it added. Am I a heretic or has anyone else tried this?
I have not but I’m totally going to! Next time i’ve got a flabby white I’ll give it a shot.
My experience is that citric acid is tricky during the winemaking process, Tartaric, on the other hand, is much more user friendly.
But after the fact, I’ve never tried it - whatever works - and 2018 in Chablis produced some fairly heavy wines - so good on ya.
got that too! maybe a taste test between critic and cream
of tartar?
Cream of tartar is the salt from tartaric acid, I would think what you want is pure tartaric acid.
As a consumer could I just save the “wine diamonds”
found in some white wines and add those?
I’m not really sure. I was just commenting as someone who uses all three, although in very small amounts in my work in a pastry kitchen. I’ve never actually added either to wine at home but I don’t see why not.
Citric is certainly employed by some winemakers pre-bottling to add a more ‘citric’ quality to the wine.
It is not often added earlier in the process because it’s shown as a precursor for some oretty negative reactions.
Cheers
I have many times thought about adding tartaric acid powder to wine. Never done it but this makes me more inclined to try it!
Tartaric acid is something so simple to add to wine - it’s the most prevalent acid found in grapes. It is something that many winemakers ‘refuse’ to add because they prefer to do as little as possible to go from grape to finished wine.
Adding acid to finished wine is akin to adding salt to food …
A little goes a long way to creating ‘balance’ and ‘harmony,…
Cheers
I add a little olive brine and a sprig of lavender into my glass of Paso Syrah so it tastes like Cote Rotie.
I guess if you are stuck drinking bad wine it doesn’t hurt to try?
I think they’re inert, aren’t they? That’s why you can ignore them.
A blueberry or two will also add a certain je ne sais pas.
I add some minerals to VDP Chard to make it taste like Chablis.
You could drop some oyster shells into the decanter and let them infuse.
At the risk of thread drift … this reminds me of a friend of my parents who had a jar of “martini stones” infusing in vermouth; you dropped a couple into your glass of gin. They were polished marble so not much infusion going on, it was just surface tension adding a few drops of vermouth.
They are insoluble in the wine they dropped out of. Another wine might be able to hold tartaric acid better so they might dissolve there.
This indeed. One can add citric acid to a wine only after the MLF and it is safe to assume the ML bacteria are knocked or filtered out, because ML bacteria do not convert only malic acid to lactic acid, but they also convert citric acid to acetic and pyruvic acid - and the latter gets further metabolized into diacetyl. Put a good dose of citric acid into wine before MLF and you get a nice vinegary wine with a healthy dose of buttery richness. Yummy!
I’m imagining the tasting note. 93 points, I’d guess.
I like adding some critic acid into my wine at times. Maybe Parker gives the wine 86 points and calls it shrill, fruitless and catering to coastal somm elites before I try my first sip.