Modena was a lovely little town with gorgeous buildings that reminded me of Madrid, but placed much closer together, making their height seem all the more imposing. The cathedral was incredible and we managed to get in our first visit to a museum (though I’m dying to visit the “Museo di Castagna” – “Chestnut Museum” in the vicinity of Borgo that is posted on signs all the way from Lucca).
Just before Modena, we visited an Enoteca near the spot where we parked and bought some balsamic vinegar products before driving out to Acetaia Bompono. It turns out that what we got was industrially produced vinegar but not traditional balsamic. We got the entire story from Lara Vecchi about the process: real traditional balsamic does not start with wine vinegar. It starts with grapes which are pressed, the must is boiled for 30-45 hours or so until it is reduced by 50-60%. It is put into big vats.
There is a system of different size vats (pictures coming soon!) and every several years, they take a certain quantity from the the smallest vat and reserve it, move som from 2nd to smallest to the smallest, and so on — putting new cooked grape juice into the biggest.
The cooked grape juice has enzymes and certain bacteria that do the work as the vats sit in a hot attic, with a vent cut in the top so that it can evaporate. It’s a bit like sourdough starter — the vats and the balsamic in them could be anywhere from 8-25 years old for traditional, and even older for the really “vecchio” — but there’s no way to guarantee a specific age.
There is a process of certification that involves taste testing and chemical testing and following the specific steps handed down from the medieval ages.
The entire process sounded a lot like small wineries that only do allocation releases. Lara even noted that it isn’t a business that someone would start up to make money — it’s something a farmer would do and over time, would increase the number of vats he has and eventually he’ll have more to share or sell. Even this particular producer only produced 5,000 liters of balsamic per year — and it’s not cheap.
After the tour and the information about how it is made, we went to a small shop with a deli counter. It reminded me of the Olive Oil Manufactory but smaller and cleaner, better lit. We got to taste the different types of balsamic, as well as some other products. We bought some balsamic, some un-certified balsamic “condiment” which is basically only for salads, some syrupy sweet “Saba” (which is really good on white peaches). We picked up some fruit, grown on their farm and honey, too. Lara sent us out with a sack of another 6 pounds of nectarines and plums — we thought it was really sweet and we were quite happy to get the “lagniappe.” (the guy at the Enoteca threw in a 1 liter bottle of spring water – I asked him the price while he was tallying my purchase and he said “niente!”).
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