gregbathurst
Well-Known Member
I thought i would start this thread as a discussion of malo-lactic fermentation in home winemaking. I'm not advocating everyone needs to do a malo, for most white wines it isn't necessary or desirable and I don't know enough about fruit wines to comment (though I think it may improve some). With cider I think it is important but for wine it is an option that should be considered.
I have tasted shiraz (syrah) from the same wine but 2 different barrels, one had been put through malo and the other hadn't. There was a definite difference in taste and it was favourable after malo. It is a way of making your reds taste more "professional", more like the stuff in the shops.
It is also used to help degas the wine because wine that goes through a wild malo can keep giving off gas months or years after primary, and red wines almost never taste good with CO2 dissolved. When a wine goes through a malo it can be very gentle and seem like normal degassing going on for a long time, so you may not be aware what is happening. If you do a malo you can pitch the culture during primary so that proper degassing can begin about 6 weeks after starting, and doesn't need to take years. If you have had a wild malo, not only can it produce CO2 but also off flavours like band-aid which can ruin the wine.
On the other hand it can be difficult to get a malo to start, and hard to know when it is finished. Winemakers find this very frustrating because you can't add SO2 until malo is over so the wine is temporarily unprotected, yet they still do it. The culture is also expensive and needs to be kept in the freezer, so it needs to be shipped properly or will deteriorate. I don't know much about the different cultures available but you could probably experiment with different cultures to see which gives the best flavour.
I do a malo because I want to make my wine more stable and like the improvement in flavour. I would like to hear other opinions from people who have tried it or at least provoke people to do their own experiments, especially if people are making french-style red wines.
I have tasted shiraz (syrah) from the same wine but 2 different barrels, one had been put through malo and the other hadn't. There was a definite difference in taste and it was favourable after malo. It is a way of making your reds taste more "professional", more like the stuff in the shops.
It is also used to help degas the wine because wine that goes through a wild malo can keep giving off gas months or years after primary, and red wines almost never taste good with CO2 dissolved. When a wine goes through a malo it can be very gentle and seem like normal degassing going on for a long time, so you may not be aware what is happening. If you do a malo you can pitch the culture during primary so that proper degassing can begin about 6 weeks after starting, and doesn't need to take years. If you have had a wild malo, not only can it produce CO2 but also off flavours like band-aid which can ruin the wine.
On the other hand it can be difficult to get a malo to start, and hard to know when it is finished. Winemakers find this very frustrating because you can't add SO2 until malo is over so the wine is temporarily unprotected, yet they still do it. The culture is also expensive and needs to be kept in the freezer, so it needs to be shipped properly or will deteriorate. I don't know much about the different cultures available but you could probably experiment with different cultures to see which gives the best flavour.
I do a malo because I want to make my wine more stable and like the improvement in flavour. I would like to hear other opinions from people who have tried it or at least provoke people to do their own experiments, especially if people are making french-style red wines.
