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Balance the acids & relish delectable wines
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Saturday, 25 February, 2006, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Kavita Tate, Mumbai
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ne. They not only control the tartness possessed by most wines but also complex flavours developed during aging. Their greatest role comes from their ability to stop, or at least retard, the growth of many potentially harmful micro-organisms that would spoil the wine completely. Too much acid makes wine undrinkable. On the other hand, if wine does not have enough acidity, the result is a flat wine that tastes insipid. This section of F&B presents the act of balancing acids, their occurrence in common bases for making wines, their tastes, their sufficiency and the way to measure them.
Grape is one of the few fruits to have large amounts of acid in their chemical composition. Therefore, the very important element in wine making is to understand the roles of the major and minor acids in wine. The major grape acids include malic and tartaric acid, while citric acid can be considered as a minor constituent.
Malic acid is one of the most prevalent acids from which wines are made. Maintaining the balance in the concentration of sugar and malic acid is important in wine- making. In warmer climates less malic acid is found in the ripened fruit than in cooler climates, but in both the cases, malic decreases as the fruit ripens. Fruit with excess of malic tends to be sharply greenish. Therefore, reducing malic is often a major consideration for perfect wine.
One way to reduce the malic acid content is to subject it to fermentation as it reduces about 20-30 per cent of the harvested malic. If the fermented wine still contains malic, more than the requirement, malolactic fermentation can be done whereby malic acid is converted to lactic acid. Some lactic acid is produced during regular fermentation, but malolactic fermentation (MLF) can reduce malic and increase lactic acid content. Grape types having high amount of malate content are Silvhaner, Colambar barbera and Karina.
Tartaric acid, the other predominant acid for wine making, is found in no fruit but grapes. It controls the pH in wine with its potassium and calcium salts and contributes to a wine's colour, aseptic stability, i.e. resistance to bacterial infection and taste. Tartaric deficiency can, therefore, create problems in wine-making. The definite amount of malic and tartaric acid and their ratio (T/M) is, therefore, important and differs in different types of wines.
The acid counteracting the harsher tartness of malic is lactic acid, which is milder in taste than malic. But lactic acid can invite infection by lactic bacteria that produce odours suggestive of spoiled milk. Therefore, some winemakers discourage MLF with the same vigour while others invite it. Another reason for dissuading MLF is that certain types of wine require it to attain their noted tastes. Citric acid, minor in grapes but major in many other fruits, is often added to wines to increase acidity, complement a specific flavour or prevent ferric hazes. In the grape, citric acid disappears during fermentation. It is reduced through normal fermentation and again during MLF. If added to an almost finished wine to increase acidity, citric acid gives the wine a freshness of flavour.
Acetic the volatile, and odorous of all the acids, is detectable by the smell of vinegar. It is a natural component of most wines in very small quantities, but is formed quickly by certain bacteria exposed to air. Acetic acid in large quantities may spoil the wine.
Citramilic, dimethylglyceric, galacturonic, glucuronic, gluconic, ketoglutaric, mucic, oxalic, and pyruvic acids are also found in grape and many other wines in trace amounts and contribute to total acidity. Therefore, balance the acids and make the wine taste, as you want it to be - sweet, bitter or sour.
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