seriously, what's up with acid?

Acid. It’s the unsung hero of every great glass of wine. The thing that keeps your mouth watering, your palate alert and your bottle from going off. Without it wine would be flabby. With it? Fresh. Balanced. Electric.

In New Zealand, where cool climates dominate and brightness is practically a national flavour, acid is everything.

So What Is Acid Doing in Your Glass?

At its core, acid does three big jobs:

1. Balance
   Acid is what keeps fruit in check. Too much fruit and no acid? What you’ve got there is just jam. Just enough acid? You’ve got something crisp, clean and deeply drinkable.

2. Preservation
   Acid helps wine last longer both in the bottle and on your palate. It acts as a natural preservative, giving wines structure and stability. Want to cellar that Pinot vino for a few years? You’d better hope it’s got the acid to hold up. Bought a couple of bottles of cab sauv from your favourite producer but on first account the acid feels a bit, shall we say - youthful, a bit grippy and green? Put that puppy in the cellar. That acid will pay dividends in the form of balanced, fresh deliciousness in a few years.

3. Personality
   That tingling freshness in a glass of dry Riesling? That zesty lift in a great bottle of sparkling? That’s acid. It’s what makes wine feel alive.

Where Does Acid Come From?

Mostly from the grapes — obvs. The cooler the climate, the more acid the grapes retain. That’s why New Zealand wine tends to have such a clean, focused backbone — it’s literally in the landscape.

There’s also a bit of winemaking wizardry at play. Some acids are present in the grape when it’s picked (like tartaric and malic), and others develop or transform in the winery (hello lactic). A little bit of adjustment can happen in the winery, too — just to fine-tune the balance.

The Acid Line-Up

The Usual Suspects

• Tartaric Acid
  The MVP. Found in high concentrations in grapes and super stable. It’s responsible for much of a wine’s structure and longevity and yes, for those little wine diamonds (tartrate crystals) you sometimes find in the bottle. (Harmless by the way and in fact, they’re proof the wine wasn’t over-processed.)

• Malic Acid
  Think green apples. Sharp, punchy and very present in young wines or cooler vintages. Often softened through a process called malolactic fermentation.

• Lactic Acid
  Softer, rounder, creamier. Created during malolactic fermentation when malic acid is converted. Think buttery Chardonnay or that subtle creaminess in good glass of fizz.

The Deep Cuts

• Citric Acid
  Naturally present in small amounts and sometimes added in winemaking to tweak freshness. Can add a touch of lemony lift.

• Acetic Acid
  A bit of this can add complexity (think kombucha or natural wine vibes) but too much and you cross the line and it’s salad dresssing.

• Succinic Acid
  Created during fermentation — adds a gentle salty or umami-like edge, especially in certain sparkling wines.

“Acidity is structure.
It’s what carries a wine across the palate.
Without it, even the best fruit just falls apart.”

— Helen Masters,
Winemaker at Ata Rangi

Learn more about The Not Serious Helen Masters

Why You Should Care ABOUT ACID

Because acid is what makes wine food-friendly. It’s what makes a wine feel alive. It’s why that glass of méthode traditionelle cuts through your fish and chips like a laser. It’s why cool-climate Chardonnay can be both elegant and powerful. It’s why your favourite wines linger longer than the last season of your latest Netflix obsession.

THE ACID TEST

Want to know how to taste for acid? Take a sip, then wait. If your mouth is still watering 10 seconds later, you’ve got something that will linger with a pleasant zippy, crunchy and fucken delicious finish.

So grab yourself a glass of something so fresh your pout puckers and enjoy this completely unrelated short doc on the evolution of Acid House.