What is Balsamic Vinegar?
The Balsamic vinegar is not a simple “Traditional balsamic vinegar”!
The protagonist “the modenese” our family vinegar works!
The Balsamic vinegar is not a “a condiment”!
Balsamic vinegar workshop
Balsamic vinegar, What in the trade is better defined to distinguish it, “Tradizionale di Modena” always, It is produced using only must our native grapes, slow cooked and directed, acetified And then aged in wood barrels for at least 12 years, in this way you can define honed, and at least 25 years in order to define extra old.
Traditional balsamic vinegar of Modena honed 12 and 25 years Acetaia Valeri
Grape must used to get the traditional balsamic vinegar of Modena must be obtained from Modena grapes, revenue coming from vineyards composed even partially, the vineyards of the famous Trebbiano, the occasional Ancellotta and Sauvignon, the originals Saikat and Berzemino and the inevitable variety of Labrador.
The Balsamic Vinegar traditional is produced exclusively in the provinces of Modena and Reggio Emilia, and both Vinegars are protected by the D.O.P. logo.
The Traditional Balsamic Vinegar It is therefore a food seasoning among the finest in the world.
The Traditional balsamic vinegar of Modena constitutes a unique reality in the panorama of condiments.
The true traditional balsamic vinegar of Modena can be brought on the market only in the special bottle from 100 ml designed by Giugiaro, any other package that boasts the definition “Traditional balsamic vinegar of Modena” does not comply with the rules of production and trade.
In Modena balsamic vinegar also boasts a protection IGP and is distinguished from the previous one to be defined “Balsamic vinegar of Modena”, less of the traditional, but still a production chain very similar to the previous.
A little history never hurt!
Today we can still say that there are no documents that certify with historical accuracy the secular origin of traditional balsamic vinegar, There is speculation, given that there is trace between documents describing events or historical figures already in ancient Greece and Imperial Rome, Recalling more commonly "balsamic" or just "natural" balsamic.
It was certainly not the product we know today because it was customary to mix the musts, raw and cooked, or its derivatives with herbs and spices for flavor variegarne according to the end uses.
Matilda of Canossa, Princes and rulers make use as a precious gift to honor, leaving track evident in the documents which have been handed down.
Modena looks like, over time, It was the final product refining cradle much to believe today is the only suitable site to get the true balsamic vinegar which is trace, yet, between accurate and detailed documentation of the Ducal Court of the Este family that had moved to Modena in 1598 coming from Ferrara.
By the Estensi “balsamic vinegar of Modena” is considered to be of great value not only culinary, so much so that the Doge’s Palace, Today military Academy, is the vinegar factory in the eaves of the Western Tower then sacked by Napoleonic invasions and restored in the early 1800 giving impetus to the promotion and knowledge of the “seasoning” . Are in fact from that period the first traces of other historical documents related to the turn of the century are of that then balsamic while the first traces of Commerce that, some families had undertaken.
If the Duke Francesco IV was a careful scholar, a promoter and defender, You can equally say that of King Vittorio Emanuele II, was impressed when tasting while visiting in Modena 4 may 1859, much to fall in love, did seize the best ships of the Ducal Palace in vinegar works by sending them at Moncalieri Castle in Piedmont, Perhaps ruining or dispersing all, so as not to leave the next track and reliable.
Half of the same century in 1862, the lawyer Francesco Aggazzotti, natural agrofilo by its very definition, Malachi of Colombaro where today still reside his great-grandchildren, He began to describe the methods to obtain it, from grapes to be used for wooden containers, by the fermentations to indispensable annual transfer ports indicating its way forward to transform the cooked in the finished product. A track which has become customary and even today the basic regulation to get it, Notwithstanding the slight hints that each family believed to be a secret handed down from father to son, verbally!
Will be the Mayor of Spilamberto Rolando Simonini, together with some friends called to connoisseurs and enthusiasts gathered in 1967, starting with that path of modenese balsamic “defense” giving rise to “natural” balsamic vinegar Faction still active in the same Spilamberto much to feel today, the country, the birthplace of balsamic. In 1976 the same Coterie defines the organoleptic characteristics at the Modena Chamber of Commerce during the meetings convened by the Association spilambertese saying that “ The real natural balsamic vinegar is produced in the area of the ancient Estense dominions. Is made from a cooked grape must, matured for slow acetification derived from natural fermentation and progressive concentration by means of long ageing in different series of wooden vessels, without any addition of aromatic substances. Shiny dark brown color, expresses its density in a correct, viscosity sliding. Has distinctive aroma and complex, penetrating, to clear but pleasant and aromatic acidity. Of traditional and inimitable well-balanced sweet and sour taste, you generously full, savory with velvety nuances in accordance with its own olfactory nature “.
Thus began the preparation of the first documents of product protection that will lead to the end of the century to the birth of the Consortium and subsequently to the European recognition of the PDO (Protected designation of origin ) which took place on 5 may 2000.
The rest is history of today.