BALSAMIC VINEGAR
ORGANIC WINE ESTATE WITH POOL NEAR MODENA
Traditions and ancient flavors of Emilia-Romagna may be found under the roof of the main villa: Podere Prasiano stores its own "batterie" of casks of aged Traditional Balsamic Vinegar, according to the oldest tradition in Modena. Guests have the opportunity to taste and discover the secrets of Podere Prasiano's "black gold".
Traditional balsamic vinegar is made only of cooked grape must from local Lambrusco and Trebbiano grapes. The cooked and reduced must will then turn into vinegar by natural fermentation in open wood casks of various type and size. Over time, each wood type will add a distinctive flavour and tannin to the balsamic vinegar.
To start a balsamic vinegar "batteria", you will need five or seven barrels. The woods generally used for the smaller vinegar’s barrels are juniper, oak ad locust tree, since they are hard woods; while chestnut, ash, cherry and mulberry are woods with a greater porosity. In the set of barrels there is a "testa" (head) and a "coda" (tail). The head is the biggest barrel, and the tail is the smallest one.
At the end of winter, a small quantity of balsamic vinegar is taken from the smallest barrel and put in bottles. Then you need to top it off with balsamic coming from the other barrels while cooked grape must is added to the biggest barrel. These transfers of balsamic vinegar from one barrel to the next are called "travasi", it is the way to tell the age of the traditional balsamic vinegar of Modena, which comes in two certified qualities: "Affinato" (12+ years) and "Extravecchio" (25+ years).