Vinegar

How Fattoria La Vialla’s vinegar and balsamic vinegar are created

Vinegar is used on salads all over the world, in the famous vinaigrette, and in Italy it is also produced in the prestigious balsamic version. Let’s take a look at how vinegar is made. It’s an acidic liquid obtained from fruit, such as apples, pears, pomegranates, soy, or from other products such as cider, mead, rice, beer – in our case, from wine. Transformation comes about thanks to the action of bacteria – of the genus Acetobacter – that, in the presence of air and water, oxidise the ethanol (or ethyl alcohol) contained in the wine, transforming it into acetic acid. Like the majority of products created in the countryside, the origins of which date back to the dawn of time, vinegar is a “recycled” product: it sometimes used to occur – and still does – that grapes vinified in “precarious” conditions, or inexpert hands, were exposed to too much air or reached an overly high temperature, triggering processes of acetification. It was common practice for leftover wine to be added to the vinegar barrel, which contained “the mother”: a darker, gelatinous mass composed of acetic bacteria and yeasts. Naturally, in farming households nothing was thrown away. Even wine with slight imperfections was drunk. But what remained at the end of the year, was used to replenish the vinegar barrel.

Over the centuries – region by region – a vinegar culture has taken root, assuming very different forms, importance and contours, but revolving around one common aspect: the intense, decidedly acidic taste, used in dressings, for preserves, and sweet and sour recipes. Here in Tuscany we traditionally use wooden barrels, or small oak barriques, which have exhausted their ability for ageing wine. The grapes harvested – typical to Chianti (Sangiovese, Canaiolo, Trebbiano, Malvasia) – that have thinner skins and a lower alcohol content, are vinified separately to make vinegar and put into these recycled barrels to mature, for varying periods of time. At La Vialla we produce traditional red wine vinegar using grapes from organic and biodynamic agriculture, with lower sugar content and not completely ripe. It rests for 6-12 months in wooden barrels that have already been used for five years to age the Fattoria’s red wines.

In the province of Modena (Emilia Romagna) an out and out balsamic vinegar cult has developed. Over the centuries noblemen and, later on, also farmers and various other people, developed an extremely long ageing process (at least 12 months according to the regulations, but more commonly over 20) for grape must, which is cooked and then aged in barrels of various sizes and types of wood. A set of small “Caratelli” barrels is used, each containing from 20 to 200 litres and made of a different wood (from cherry to oak), in which the precious liquid ages – concentrated through evaporation – and is poured from one to the next until reaching the smallest, as it gradually decreases in volume.

This method, with a particular “recipe that’s jealously guarded by the producers, is used to produce Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena. The offspring of this balsamic nectar, which is thick as oil (almost impossible to come by and with an exorbitant price), are the various Balsamic Vinegars of Modena and their aged versions, which use the same cooking process for the grape must but reduce the ageing period in barrels. The cult of balsamic vinegar probably dates as far back as ancient Rome, becoming deeply rooted during the Renaissance at the court of the Este Family, attracting attention at the court of the Medici in Florence, then in France – where it is used in Vinaigrette – and, today, all over the world.

The production process – from grapes to balsamic vinegar

La Vialla’s Balsamic Vinegar of Modena boasts the I.G.P. (Indicazione Geografica Protetta = Protected Geographical Indication) denomination and organic certification. The I.G.P. guidelines foresee strict rules for the production, compliance with which is guaranteed by a specific control body. Alongside the production guidelines, Fattoria La Vialla’s balsamic vinegar also has a very important quality certification: the fact that it comes from Sangiovese and Trebbiano grapes grown using organic and biodynamic methods. As well as guaranteeing the absence of pesticides, chemical fertilizers and every kind of synthetic substance, organic and biodynamic grape growing uses a series of methods for fertilizing the soil naturally, which are both traditional and innovative at the same time: from sowing specific plants between the rows of vines in autumn and then digging them in in spring, to the use of biodynamic compost and biodynamic preparations, to halving the copper used as a fungicide (allowed in organic farming) and the drastic reduction of sulphites in the winery. The grape must is cooked in a special tank until it reaches the degree of concentration required by the production guidelines. It’s subsequently acetified by combining it with the Fattoria’s wine vinegar and then put into oak barriques to age for months (up to over two years). Thanks to its permanence in these precious containers, previously used for ageing the most important wines, the balsamic vinegar enriches its bouquet with spicy, fruity and ethereal notes from the noble predecessors. It is a beautiful glossy, brown colour with the characteristic aroma of cooked fruit and berries, Marasca cherries preserved in alcohol, and a full-bodied, well-balanced taste between silky sweetness and pleasant acidity.

Even though wine vinegar is sometimes overshadowed by its balsamic “relations”, in Tuscany it still remains the ideal dressing for a traditional salad with “olio e aceto” (= oil and vinegar), a pinch of salt and a couple of peppercorns, simple, fragrant, brilliant! And that’s not all. Vinegar is one of the basic ingredients of our typical regional cuisine. When preparing vegetables preserved in oil – from artichokes to peppers, from aubergines to zucchini – they always have to be blanched in water and vinegar for a few minutes. This purifies them naturally and, at the same time, fixes their colour and increases freshness.

Unlike wine vinegar, the use of which is tied to precise quantities and recipes, Balsamic Vinegar of Modena is a ready-to-use, independent dressing. With its velvety sweetness and pleasant acidity It’s ideal as a crudité dip, with salads, vegetables and meat - boiled, roasted or grilled - it also lends itself to a wide variety of uses in the kitchen, in pasta sauces, on risotto, fish and meat dishes, “sweet and sour” vegetables, mushrooms and, with moderation, on strawberries and peaches in syrup. Aged Balsamic Vinegar of Modena, which is even more dense and aromatic, should be used with care in order not to risk covering the flavour of the dishes with which it’s combined. A few drops of this balsamic delight are wonderful on cheeses such as Parmigiano Reggiano or Pecorino Gran Riserva. It creates an appealing colour contrast, adding an elegant and intriguing aromatic touch. A drop on top of strawberry mousse turns a simple pudding into a refined dessert. And lastly there’s also the Fattoria’s Balsamico Bianco, suave and fragrant, with its delicate acidity it is excellent on seasonal vegetables (steamed or roast), in fish risotto or – mixed with a little oil and salt – as a dressing on a mixed leaf salad.