How DOP (Traditional) Balsamic Vinegar is Made

Описание: Justin Marx visits Compagnia Del Montale to learn how they make their Extravecchio and Affinato balsamic vinegars.

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Transcript:
Justin: "While in Italy I got to Enrico & Francesco of Compagnia del Montale. The producers who make our amazing balsamic vinegar, and they showed me how they do it.

Traditional DOP Balsamics are the best of the best. There are only two types available. You've got Affinato, which is aged for 12 years, and Extravecchio, which is aged for 25.

Enrico & Francesco have an entire floor dedicated to producing these vinegars, stacked to the ceiling with small barrels that are slowly aging vinegar.

Enrico: "This is a typical set of barrels, called a batteria, where we age the product. We use different kinds of wood. From chestnut wood, cherry wood, oak, juniper. There are a lot of kinds of wood that we can use.

Here there is only one ingredient: only cooked grape must."

Justin: "They take cooked grape juice and age it, until it turns into wine. Then they put that wine into the barrels, where there are already previous batches of vinegar. The older vinegar not only adds flavor and color, it has special bacteria that convert the alcohol in the wine into acetic acid, which is what makes the vinegar tart.

After that, they continue to age the vinegar, moving it to smaller and smaller barrels, until it reaches the right flavor, density & consistency.

Then comes the final test. They take the vinegar to the balsamic consortium."

Enrico: "And after that, if we pass the exam, where there are master tasters that taste our balsamic vinegar, if we pass this kind of test, they put inside the bottle for traditional balsamic. But if you don't pass the exam, you have to bring again at home your product. And then you have to age again inside the barrel. We try next time."

Justin: "Wow, so it's really tightly regulated. You can't even bottle your own product!

Imagine waiting 25 years, just to take your product to a consortium of judges to tell you whether or not it's good enough. But that's what it takes to be the best of the best.

Compagnia del Montale won the Spilamberto award for best balsamic vinegar in the world in 2012, so these guys definitely know what they're doing."