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I just opened a the first bottle from the cherry wine I started last year (I bottled it back in January and its been maturing since then). It had stopped working but the wine now has a slight fizz! Is this, as I remember reading, malo-lactic fermentation? And will it be ok in the bottles? My wine books are all at my parents' house so I can't look it up til I'm there next.
Aside from the fizz the wine is quite pleasant, though could still do with a few months I think. It is a little...watery though. It was all the way through the process, I'm not sure why, I made around 5 gallons from about 18lbs of cherries, and added other flavourings (such as ginger and some very strong fruit tea) to beef it up. Nice and strong though

Certainly sounds like malo-lactic to me. Amazing - when you want it you can't get it, and when you don't want it ...

There's no answer to the bottle question. Either the ML fermentation was small, in which case your bottles will be OK, or it wasn't and you may begin to hear minor explosions - it all depends upon how much malic acid was in there in the first place. How much pressure did you notice when you opened the bottle to taste it? If you got only a mild pffzzz (ridiculous, but you'll know what I mean if you got it) and the wine didn't froth all over the place, you're probably OK. On the other hand, if the cork forced itself out and the wine began leaving the bottle under its own steam, you'd be better opening the lot and recorking.

But at least you know that next time you make cherry wine, use champagne-type bottles or even plastic storage bottles.

The wateriness is simply lack of body (which never bothers me particularly - if you must have all of the characteristics of a grape wine, then make the wine from grapes). The easiest way to get around this (next time) is to include chopped raisins (for red) or sultanas (for white) in the original must at around a half-pound per gallon (or even a quarter-pound - it still makes a difference). But remember to adjust the sugar added (subtract 1/2 to 3/4 lb for every pound of raisins). You could also try bananas, but wines containing bananas sometimes take for ever to fall clear.

All this aside, some winemakers would kill for a malo-lactic transformation because it definitely improves what could otherwise be quite a harsh wine. I'd count myself lucky if I were you.

Thanks MKG, I was hoping it would be malo-lactic! I know its usually a good thing to happen, I was just worried about the bottles exploding and since it was only a mild fizz, that seems unlikely. Thanks for putting my mind at rest! I think I did use raisins, I can't remember atm-again my books are at my parents' house, including my brewing diary. Though I dare say I didn't use enough if I did use them.

ocailleagh wrote:I just opened a the first bottle from the cherry wine I started last year (I bottled it back in January and its been maturing since then). It had stopped working but the wine now has a slight fizz! Is this, as I remember reading, malo-lactic fermentation? And will it be ok in the bottles? My wine books are all at my parents' house so I can't look it up til I'm there next.
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It may not be malo-lactic fermentation, (not sure of the malic acid content of cherry's, it's usually associated with apples, esp with cider.) And I didn't think that malo-lactic fermentation caused fizziness?...any one?, it's just the rounding of the flavour, and a "prickle" of lactic acid rather than a sharpness of malic acid...could be wrong.

It may be that when you bottled in Jan, the temps were cooler than now, and the yeast was inactive ,did you put campden tablets into the wine prior to bottling?. If not I bet some of the yeast has reactivated in the increased temps this time of the year. So be careful , did you check the gravity of the wine?. If it was below 1010 then you should be OK.

You could be right. But ML does cause a slight fizziness - ever tasted Mattheus Rose? Or is that Mateus?