Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena
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| Daniele Malagoli's acetaia, or vinegar (aceto) making facility, is made) is located in the attic of a restructured antique farmhouse, in the Modenese countryside. It includes 781 barrels, or, to be correct, vaselli of various sizes and wood. Production started in 1996. This means that the first finished product won't be released until 2010, or after the vinegar has aged for at least 14 years, the minimum period required for the official "tradizionale" denomination. |
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| John Dawdy, vice president of WineCountry.IT during olfactory examination of a seven-year old balsamic vinegar, still too young to aspire to the "tradizionale" title, however its quality, structure and flavor are superior to any balsamic vinegar di Modena bought at the neighborhood grocery store. | |
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| A typical serving bottle for the aceto balsamico tradizionale. An internal glass beak allows to pour the dense "black gold" drop by drop, without wasting any. | |
| Photos by Loris Scagliarini | |
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During a recent business trip to Italy to the Vinitaly trade show in Verona, John Dawdy , vice president of WineCountry.IT and I, took advantage and visited Ingegner (engineer) Daniele Malagoli and his wife Barbara Piccinini, personal friends that I hadn't seen in a long time. Daniele and Barbara live with two daughters in a big, antique farmhouse surrounded by vineyards and other cultivated fields in the Modenese countryside.
Eight years ago Daniele started a grandiose project: build an acetaia, or vinegar (aceto) making facility, to produce exclusively traditional balsamico vinegar di Modena that, once the production cycle has achieved the minimum requirement of 14 years of aging according to the official production rules, will be among the first eight companies producing aceto balsamico TRADIZIONALE di Modena. I have highlighted "tradizionale" because this is the official denomination that defines the "true" ("vero") aceto balsamico, officially setting it apart from the balsamic vinegar produced industrially.
The denomination is awarded and certified by the Consorzio Produttori Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena ( Consortium of Producers of the Traditional Balsamic Vinegar from Modena ) according to strict evaluation parameters of the whole production history.
The Consorteria dell'Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Spilamberto (Spilamberto Traditional Balsamic Vinegar Clique) is another organization that actively promotes the Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena through conferences, educational courses, maintaining the Museum of the Traditional Balsamic Vinegar from Spilamberto and various other activities.
To the standard non-European consumer, it may seems that the fussiness with which Italians and Europeans in general define and defend their typical traditional products may be a gimmick, an idea of the marketing department to keep high prices on goods that could be produced in larger quantities, and at lower cost, by applying industrial methods. However, it is enough to taste the original products, made according to the strict production rules based upon the traditional production methods, and compare them to the industrial imitations to realize that it is truly a matter of quality and flavors. The difference is immediately noticeable even to the most casual of consumer. To find an example we don't need to go far, as it happened to our John Dawdy.
Last year, during another business trip to Italy, John had the chance to taste 30-year-old aceto balsamico tradizionale di di Modena produced artisanally by a private producer to satisfy his family needs and to offer presents to a limited number of lucky recepients. After that John was no longer able to appreciate the balsamic vinegar he used to buy regularly at his local market back in California.
While visiting the acetaia of ingegner Malagoli, Dawdy tasted traditional balsamic vinegar aged for 50 years and, immediately, he was able to taste the difference and truly appreciate the "black gold" definition, as the Modenese call the best among the production.
Self Sufficient Production
Daniele Malagoli is a successful construction engineer (ingegnere) who, during the eighties and nineties, remodeled and restored entire villages, castles and Medieval italian compounds with taste and total respect for the original structures. Out of love for the earth and local traditions, he and his wife Barbara started an almost totally self sufficient enterprise, at least for their family's needs. In fact, their farm produces a great variety of vegetables and fruits, in addition to raising chickens, ducks, goose, sheep and other farm animals that provide eggs, milk and meat.
The vineyard that runs south in regular lines from the limit of their yard is Trebbiano, or the grape that, in addition to producing an excellent white table wine which is part of the Emilia-Romagna regional tradition, gives the best must (grape juice) to produce aceto balsamico tradizionale di Modena.
The Malagolis split responsibilities in managing the property. Barbara takes care of the vineyards and supervises the agricultural production, while Daniele is the absolute king of the acetaia, which occupies the whole attic of the big farmhouse and part of the underground. At harvest time, when the Trebbiano is at peak ripeness, the best grapes are harvested and crushed separately. Within six hours maximum from crushing, before that the alcoholic fermentation starts, which is the transformation of sugars into alcohol, the must is brought to the underground cellar where the delicate phase of slow boiling in a custom-made atmospheric pressure boiler starts. The "cooked must" will be used to refill the bigger of the vaselli in each "batteria" (the set of barrels, or vaselli, where the vinegar rest to age).
Boiling the must using atmospheric pressure guaranties a product obtained according to the tradition as well as the "disciplinare", or the set of rules that regulate each production stage. Producers of industrially-made balsamic vinegar (as opposed to "Tradizionale") di Modena, use must processed in autoclaves, in fact the product is called "concentrato" ("concentrate"), instead of "mosto cotto" ("cooked must").
Having his own cooked must production, in addition to producing the juice from grapes cultivated right on the estate, differentiate this acetaia from the majority of other enterprises. The majority of producers buys cooked must from companies that produce it buying grapes from a variety of local grape growers. By controlling each stage of the production cycle, from grape growing to the final decision of when to start distribution of the final product, Ingegner Malagoli should be able to provide consistently top quality aceto balsamico tradizionale di Modena that will be difficult to either equal or imitate.
"During the boiling of the must", says Malagoli, "I don't see Barbara for two or three days, literally."
"It's true!" Confirms Barbara. "He sets up a camp bed in the boiler room and takes care of the process throughout, night and day, as our forefathers used to do, because it's a very delicate procedure that must follow well defined time limits," she conclude.
Once the procedure is completed, the liquid is left to rest for two to three days in specially made oak vats. Some producers allow the cooked must to rest in the vats for a few months, while others, among them Malagoli, pour the cooled liquid into 220 lt. (58 gallons) oak barriques and let it rest for a full year.
Inside the barriques there are traces of balsamic vinegar ferments and enzymes so, during the year of rest the must goes through a setting phase of the various substances in suspension (during the cold, winter months) and the transformation of sugars into balsamic vinegar (during the summer months, typically extremely hot and particularly damp).
"This process develops particularly well in the Modenese countryside," said Malagoli. "In fact, the area where we live experiences extreme thermal variations, from the winters that, as you may remember, are extremely cold and damp, and the hot, sweaty and extremely humid summer months."
"Dampness is a fundamental element in the transformation process of the aceto balsamico tradizionale," concludes Malagoli, "and high humidity is one of the peculiarity of the Pianura Padana (Padana Plain), in particular the rural area between Modena and Reggio Emilia."
Once the year in barriques is finished, the must is ready to enter the ABTM (Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena) production cycle. The smaller barrel, or vasello, in the batteria, 
the one where the balsamic vinegar spends the longest time aging and maturing, is filled to up to two thirds to three quarters of its capacity pouring the liquid from the barrel next to the last. This is then re-filled up to two thirds to three quarters of its capacity pouring from the next barrel, and so on. The first barrel in the series, which is the biggest with capacity of about 40 liters, is leveled using the cooked must from the barriques.
The vaselli in each batteria are made with different woods, including chestnut tree, oak, mulberry tree, cherry three, acacia, locust tree and even some juniper wood.
"Through the pouring and decanting, in fourteen years the cooked must changes, acquiring colors, perfumes and flavors from the various kind of wood touched in the long years of slow, but constant, transformation into aceto balsamico tradizionale di Modena," observes Daniele Malagoli, "assuming all along the characteristic intense, transparent ruby color, the heavy density and the specific weight of about 1,450 grams per liter (about 51 oz. per quarter)," he concludes.
Finally, when the good season settles in and the hot, damp summer typical of the area known as Padania, after carefully checking one last time the look, smell and taste for possible mildew or contamination, the vinegar is left alone to rest and work, untouched until the following year. The whole process starts over the next fall, with a new harvest and two-three days of isolation for the Malagolis, busy to fulfill their love and passion while producing the wine that they will drink and pour for their friends the following year, as well as a nectar that will be used many years in the future by their grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
- Download ABTM recipes:
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