SacBee: Dunne on Alderson RW Vinegar

Interesting article by MikeDunne in today's SacBee:
SacBee:RWVinegar

on the Alderson RedWine Vinegar. I tried this out at DarrellCorti's a few weeks ago and was impressed.

"For his part, Alderson makes clear that vinegar isn’t spoiled wine."

It is not easy to make vinegar. You just can't leave an open btl of wine out on the counter and expect it to turn to vinegar (as everyone claims). It just turns to oxidized wine. Acetaldehyde is not acetic acid. It's important that you have a good innoculent of "mother of vinegar".

I (and Susan) make our own RW vinegar. I got my mother from EmilioCastelli. His mother dates back to his grandfather in the LakeGarda area (Emilio's home) who started it in the late 1800's. It's pretty good stuff.

Anyway, interesting/SWR article.
Tom

Good read Tom! Dale`s vinegar pot must pale in comparison to this method eh.

[Jenise]

Tom, I make my own vinegar, too. And in fact I've found it pretty easy since I've discovered that a few certain types of wines turn to vinegar at the drop of a hat, low-end Italian and young Beaujolais being in my experience the most reliable to do so. It's definitely not oxidized wine I'm putting on my salads! What I love best about making my own, other than putting wine I can't drink to good use, is the benefit of aging. We're currently using what we made in 2011.

Very good article.

A few years back, my pal Nilo was visiting his mom, who'd been living in the South San Francisco area for many years. One of her old Italian pals had come across a small barrel of vinegar in their garage. I don't think they knew how long it had been there. They gave him several bottles and he passed one on to me. It's easily the best wine vinegar I've ever had.