Source · producer

Modena balsamic producer

Modena, Emilia-Romagna, IT

Placeholder producer entry — Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena DOP is cooked Trebbiano grape must reduced to about a third of its volume, then aged in a *batteria* — a series of wooden barrels of descending size and different woods (chestnut, cherry, ash, mulberry, oak, juniper). Each year, the producer tops up the smallest barrel with vinegar from the next-largest, cascading back up the line. The youngest *tradizionale* you can buy is 12 years old; the *extravecchio* grade is 25.

Two products share the name and almost nothing else. Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale DOP is the artisanal, decades-aged thick black syrup; Aceto Balsamico di Modena IGP is the supermarket vinegar that’s mostly wine vinegar coloured with caramel. Both are legal. Both are called balsamic vinegar. They are different products.