Did anyone ever tell you how traditional balsamic vinegar of Modena originated? Nobody really knows but the fact is that here in Modena, we’ve always liked good vinegar. Even way back when the House of Este ruled, “vinegar from Modena” was already very well known. Every family had its own recipe.
According to one recipe, the vinegar was obtained by leaving cooked must to stand undisturbed in the loft. The tradition passed from family to family until a true production specification was established. Many of today’s vinegar works are no longer in the lofts of family homes. Ours is.
We’re very close to Modena, but in the middle of the countryside. Ours is an old farmhouse where you can still scent the fragrance of grandma’s cakes. Grandma Irma is no longer with us but here, we never stop baking. Amid vineyards, flowers and tractors, you finally reach our vinegar-making enterprise.
We’re folk from Modena, straightforward and sincere. We love to entertain, and we do it with good food. You’ll discover our Traditional and “Extravecchio” Balsamic Vinegar, but that’s not all. You’ll also find our balsamic dressings and preserves. All to be sampled and enjoyed with a good glass of Lambrusco wine.
Rest
The cask. Can be made of mulberry, oak, cherry or juniper wood. Each with a different fragrance, partly provided by the actual wood and partly by its history. Thus the intense flavour of traditional balsamic vinegar of Modena is enhanced by new flavours.
Aided by the passage of time and the seasons. In a land where it’s really cold in winter and really hot in summer. In an attic where the alternating seasons produce unrelenting temperature changes allowing the vinegar to ferment in silence. Year after year. Cask after cask.
Traditional balsamic vinegar is not just made for money, but for pleasure. And many of our passions can be discovered within the walls of our vinegar works. Here’s one: history. Not the sort you study at school in boring books. The sort we like is the history made by people in bygone times.
We love to wander around the flea markets in our area and unearth surprises concealed among piles of odds and ends. Pottery, kitchen utensils, farming equipment, old maps. Amid our casks you’ll see vintage objects from the Italy of the past, but still present. And if you like, Luciano will entertain you with a story about each one of them.
