Most of our wines complete 100% MLF, save our Gewürztraminer, Riesling, Pinot Gris and stainless-steel Chardonnay. We add SO2 immediately after primary fermentation to block the MLF from occuring.
When the conversion is complete we can then add SO2 to our wines for protection (SO2 is inhibitory to the bacteria that perform the fermentation).
One of the ways we track the fermentation is by using paper chromatography. This is a relatively 'old school' technique for tracking the fermentation. It uses the principles of chromatography (essentially a substances affinity for a solvent) to separate the acids present in the wine. It's a bit convoluted but it is a pretty easy method for getting a basic idea of your MLF progress.
The rack above contains 60 test tubes, each representing a single barrel of wine. They are coded with a letter and number (A1-A10 though F1-F10) so each barrel is identified. Using special chromatography paper, I 'spot' 10 wines per page with a tiny capillary tube; the smaller the spot the better. After passing over each spot three times i leave the paper to dry.
When dry I roll the paper into a tube and staple it together. The tube is then placed into a sealed container that contains a small amount of chromatography solution. I leave the paper in over night.
Tomorrow I'll take the paper out, develop it and read the results. Ill post a pic of the results tomorrow afternoon and we'll see where we stand
