Malo in plum wine?

[Abervin]

I was looking at the sugarandacid pdf earlier and noticed that the main acid in plums is malic and the gears started whirring in my wee heed
It has been commented before that plum is ok if back sweetened, not being a big fan of sweet wines, I wondered if it was possible to put it through malolactic fermentation to soften it without sweetening.

I've missed the boat with my current years plum wine to try it out, so was after peoples thoughts for trying it next year. Of course it would depend how this years wine turns out

cheers
Adam

[SleepyDave]

And don't forget, Lalvin 71B-1122 metabolises up to 40% of the malic acid in a must. Gervin 'D' is the same strain.

[lockwood1956]

You dont need to sweeten it a lot, around 1.004 would suffice and the sweetness would be masked by the acidity, so it wouldn't necessarily taste sweet.

Try adding teeny bits of sugar to a glass of it and see

regards
Bob

[Abervin]

Dave- yes i had forgotten about that one, maybe next year I will do some experimenting if the plum crop is as good as this year.

Bob- if it only requires a tiny sugar addition I will certainly try it on this years, still waiting for it to clear at the mo

[NorthernWiner]

Adam, have you actually tasted the wine, or are you basing your question solely on what you've read? Taste is everything and should tell you if it's acidic or not.

[Abervin]

Adam, have you actually tasted the wine, or are you basing your question solely on what you've read? Taste is everything and should tell you if it's acidic or not.

Steve
Its still a very young wine, but on my last tasting during racking it was a bit on the sharp side, maybe it will mellow with time. My question really was to see if anyone had tried a malolactic ferment on a plum wine based on what I had read.

Adam