"Clyde Gill" > wrote in message
om...
> You differ from Clark Smith, who states that levels of 20 to 30 ppm is
> all that should be maintained in wines of higher pH, and that the
> purpose is only to bind acetaldehyde; not as a microbial disinfectant.

Hi Clyde -
I'm not so sure we actually differ much on that topic. I wasn't necessarily
_advocating_ maintaining 0.8 ppm molecular SO2 in a high pH wine; only
pointing out that it's possible. However, I suspect that 80 ppm free SO2
might cause sulfite sensitive folks some problems as that high pH wine hits
their stomach and the molecular free goes through the roof in that pH 3.0
environment!

For that matter, it seems to be fairly common practice to maintain molecular
SO2 at 0.5 - 0.6 ppm in red wines.

I don't think I'd risk free SO2 as low as Clark Smith recommends for high pH
wines though. I'd probably opt for an arbitrary maximum of ~50 ppm free and
leave it at that.

Tom S