Modena

Yesterday we got up bright and early to head to Modena! It is located a little less than 2 hours north of Florence and is known for its Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena. Our group was divided into two and we ended up going to Acetaia Malpighi which is a family owned operation that makes the famous balsamic vinegar.

The building :) It was smaller than expected

            They gave us a tour of the upstairs first, which is where they keep the vinegar to age it. They don’t keep it in a cellar or manage the temperature and humidity because they think that the different seasons and changes allow it to mature more fully and give it a better flavor.

The cloth over the opening prevents dust or other particles from entering. 

            These barrels are full of the vinegar. The larger barrels in the back are where they put the freshly pressed vinegar, basically juice of the grape that has been heated or not depending on the vinegar type. The barrel has an opening on the top to allow the air to circulate and as the year goes by about 10% of the liquid will evaporate. The smaller the barrel the older and more concentrated the vinegar is. So they will bottle some of the liquid in the smaller barrel then refill it with the next size barrels vinegar and so on until the vinegar from the largest barrel has been aged sufficiently to make it to the smaller barrel. The woman giving us the tour described how what type of barrel you use is a big factor in the overall aroma and taste of the vinegar.

The small barrels on the shelf were over 50 years old!

The oldest vinegar goes through several barrels made of different woods and so picks up that flavor and aroma. The age of the barrel also can be of value. The smallest barrel that she was using to explain the process was over 100 years old and because it had been used for that long it was worth upwards of $40,000. When the old barrel starts to leak or breaks somehow instead of buying a new barrel they will just create a second one around it so that the original is still inside and adding it’s flavor to the vinegar.

It can only be considered "Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena" if it is in a bottle and packaged like this. The Gold top means that it has been aged for 25 years and the yellow one for 12. Only one group (or person?) can bottle it in these containers with this label so if you want to put it in this bottle you have to have a special taster come and taste the vinegar before it can be bottled and be a part of the group. 

            After that, we were brought downstairs to the tasting room. I was a little hesitant about trying the vinegar since I had only had the cheap grocery store vinegar but it was WONDERFUL. Oh my goodness SO GOOD! I had no idea balsamic vinegar could taste that good! I would have bought everything except the cheapest bottle was about 10 E and the most expensive was about 75 E…. However I did splurge and got a few things to take home J. Who knew you could just have the vinegar plain and love it? It was almost like having candy. And the chocolate with balsamic vinegar we tried was to die for, however a small box was 10 E. Anyway, moral of the story is if you are going to Italy stop in Modena for the Traditional balsamic Vinegar tastings. I promise you it will be worth it. Just make sure you haven’t spent all your money yet ;) Good news though is that they take credit card!

We got to taste everything on the table! The only thing I didn't like was the spread. 

           

            After that tour we went to the Ferrari Museum. This was fun and cool to look around but since I know absolutely nothing about cars, especially nice ones, it wasn’t as fun as the tasting earlier. I can’t really say all that much more since I have no idea really what I was looking at besides really nice cars…. Oh and that our group only stood out a tiny bit as we were all girls in our 20s mixed in among the very expensively dressed middle aged men with their wives. The gift shop made money on us at least! Model cars is about all any of us could afford.

If you're interested, I have a lot more pictures of cars that I don't really know what they are. This one was my favorite. 

Roommates! 

           

            At the end of the day we had a little time to explore the town but since it was siesta not much was open. We ended up having a nice lunch and then heading back to Florence.