Malic Acid

(See also: Acid / Acidic / Acidity, Tartaric Acid)

Only two kinds of acid occur naturally in grapes in significant quantities: malic acid is the acidity we are most familiar with from apples and occurs in hundreds of fruits, unlike tartaric acid that is found only in grapes and a very few other fruits. In the Gut Hermannsberg wines the malic acid accentuates the impression of crispness. As the grapes ripen their malic acid content falls considerably while their sugar content rises. It can also be transformed into milder tasting lactic acid in the cellar through malolactic fermentation, and both kinds of acid can be chemically removed (deacidification) or added (acidulation). However, at Gut Hermannsberg we do none of these things to our wines, because they have a very healthy natural acidity we want to hang on to!