"David C Breeden" > wrote in message
...
> Wine with a pH of 3.5 is absolutely stable. I'm happy with anything
> below 3.6 or so, and there are people who go much higher. Most reds
> will not have pH's anywhere near 3.1 or 3.2, and really, they don't
> need to.

Red wine at pH 3.2 is pretty user-unfriendly. Sure, it'll be _stable_, but
nobody will want to drink it!

As David said, pH 3.5 (and even higher) is perfectly acceptable for red
wines. Actually, that's about where my Chardonnay usually ends up, and I've
had no stability problems with it. The level of free SO2 is a bit higher,
but 50 ppm free isn't all that high anyway.

I've had some very fine Cabernets in the range of pH 3.8.

FWIW, wine judges tend to prefer high pH wines over lower pH wines of equal
quality.

Tom S