“Balsamic” can be almost anything dark and sweet-sour. But the differences between the supermarket bottle and real balsamic from Reggio Emilia are enormous – in production, time and price.
Aceto Balsamico di Modena IGP
The mass product: wine vinegar, cooked must, often caramel colouring and thickeners. At least 60 days of “ageing” in large tanks. Costs little, tastes mostly sour. Fine for salad dressing, not for more.
Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale DOP
The other extreme: exclusively cooked grape must, at least 12 years (Affinato) or 25 years (Extravecchio) in a battery of ever smaller wooden barrels. Only in Modena and Reggio Emilia, only in the typical 100 ml bottle, inspected and bottled by the Consortium. Prices from 60–80 francs upwards.
Balsamico Riserva – the golden mean
Our Riserva follows the traditional method – cooked grape must, ageing in small barrels of oak, chestnut, cherry and juniper, at least seven years – without the formal DOP certification of the Tradizionale. The result: dense, naturally sweet, complex, at a price you can afford every day.
How to recognise quality
- Ingredients listonly “grape must” (and possibly wine vinegar) – no colourings, no thickeners.
- Consistencydense, coats the spoon.
- Tastesweetness and acidity in balance, wood, fig, plum – no biting acidity.
- Pricebelow 15 francs for 250 ml, real ageing is simply impossible.
