Have you ever taken a sip of a steely crisp white wine such as a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc or a Chablis and been delighted with its clean and refreshing character?  That’s the treat of acidity at work.

Wine is inherently an acidic drink.  Even wines that taste sweet to the consumer are very high in acid; the residual sugar simply masks the acidic character.  One of the key characteristics of a sweet German Ries-ling is the “racing acidity” underlying the sweetness, providing an ideal balance.

The level of acidity in the grapes (measured by the pH of the juice) is one of the primary indicators of when to harvest the fruit.  Young grapes are usually characterized by high acidity and very low sugar producing a very tart taste.  Most wine makers try to pick their grapes at the point where sugars and acids are at their maximum.  Beyond that “ideal” point, sugars continue to rise as acid levels drop.  Without the acids, the wine becomes what is known in wine language as “flabby” or dull, loos-ing much of its personality.