Vinegar

Vinegar can be purchased at our Taste Stores and our online store.

Traditional Balsamic vinegar is produced from the juice of just harvested Trebbiano grapes boiled down to approximately 30% of the original volume to create a concentrate or must, which is then fermented with a slow aging process which concentrates the flavors. The flavor intensifies over decades, with the vinegar being kept in wooden casks, of chestnut, cherrywood, ash, mulberry, and juniper becoming sweet, viscous and very concentrated. During this period, a proportion evaporates: it is said that this is the "angels' share," a term also used in the production of Scotch whisky, wine, and other alcoholic beverages.

At the end of the aging period (12, 18, or 25 years) a small proportion is drawn from the smallest cask and each cask is then topped up with the contents of the preceding (next largest) cask. Freshly reduced cooked must is added to the largest cask and in every subsequent year the drawing and topping up process is repeated. This process where the product is distributed from the oldest cask and then refilled from the next oldest vintage cask is called solera or in perpetuum. If the vinegar does not state an age then it is not aged balsamic.

Although it is considered wine vinegar, it is not wine vinegar at all. It is not made from wine, but from grape pressings that have never been permitted to ferment into wine. Most vinegar labeled “Balsamic” but have no statement of age are wine vinegar that has a very small percentage of Balsamic vinegar added. Though the bottle is labeled “Balsamic Vinegar” it is only a shadow of true balsamic vinegar. Look at the ingredients if wine vinegar is listed as an ingredient it is not true Balsamic vinegar. Many imitations state matured in wood, “matured” and “aged” are very different, a minimum of 12 years is required.