How we make it
The five steps of Balsamic Vinegar of Modena production
1. Emilian grapes
To obtain good Balsamic Vinegar of Modena, you must have very mature grapes, from vines listed in the rolls of Emilian wine, Lambrusco and Trebbiano.
2. Stomping
Immediately after stomping the grapes, the must obtained is left to rest, allowing the coarse parts to settle at the bottom.
3. Must cooking
At this point we proceed to cook the must, a process that must be started before the alcoholic fermentation begins, after filling the boiler with the decanted must and igniting the fire, the must is cooked slowly for close to sixteen to eighteen hours.
4. Fermentation process
The cooked must is then passed to wooden tun where it is cooled and decanted. Here the first alcoholic fermentation process begins, followed by acetic oxidation with the aid of the addition of acetobacteria (aged wine vinegar).
5. Long ageing process
In the next phase it is transferred to oak casks starting at a capacity of 225 liters. Then it is decanted down to various sized barrels and then the final decantation, into a barrels of 50 liters. During this long ageing process (the Solera method) the Balsamic obtains the different shadings, flavours and consistencies, that come from the Aromas of the different woods according to the age old Emilian traditions.
