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Acetaia San Giacomo has always produced vinegars obtained only from very long natural fermentation. The ancestral method today called "static".

The METHOD, the "HOW IT IS DONE" is the key.

There are no other products where the Method is so discriminating.

In the world of wine for example, wines are ALL fermented. Then it is the specific production choices that make enormous qualitative differences.

Ditto in spirits.

In the world of Balsamic, however, no.

99% of Balsamics do not undergo any fermentation. There is a simple mixing of two (or more) ingredients. Sour and sweet. Vinegar and must. Point.

The latter are blended, unfermented Balsamics.

DISHES, only sweet and sour, without depth or nuance.

While there is 100% Balsamic from cooked must, which we call "Without Vinegar".

Coincidentally, if it exceeds 12 years it becomes the prized "Traditional Balsamic Vinegar".

This Balsamic Without Vinegar is not the result of a blend simply left to age.

It's just something else.

It is a single ingredient that goes through 2 radical fermentations: alcoholic fermentation first, acetic bioxidation afterwards.

These two steps alone take no less than a year.

Cooked vinegars , if the raw material is cooked over direct heat.

Raw vinegars , if the raw material is used as is, without the radical transformation brought about by fire.

Fire is an element of man's evolution, it is a watershed sign of the moment in which nature comes into contact with culture.

Fermentations are always a cultural phenomenon, before a natural one. In this context, Balsamic is the maximum expression of a process that is not only cultural, but also symbolic.

Originally produced as the highest manifestation of the gesture of gratuitousness, that is, starting something that will be used for subsequent generations. Without having, without EVER having, an advantage.

In this direction, Acetaia San Giacomo produces only Balsamic Vinegar without added vinegar, pure, obtained 100% from local organic must, cooked over direct heat. Never from concentrated musts. And without mixing with wine vinegar.

The cooked must, thus naturally acetified, is sent to a very long aging process which will lead it to sublimate its aromatic component.

But it is the " Method ", the "how it is done" at the start, whether it is fermented or mixed , which is the real key to understanding the complex world of Balsamic Vinegar. Even before the myth of origin and aging.

Similarly, raw vinegars ferment and slowly acetate through the thin veils of acetobacteria (never the "mothers") that form on the surface of the liquid.

The ancestral method takes months, sometimes years to complete acetification.
It is itself refinement, aging.
Furthermore, the method is discriminating before any other qualitative choice.

Raw vinegars are not pasteurized nor, ever, diluted with water.
They are therefore pure, clean, explosive, tasty, almost savory.
Perfect to give meaning to a taste that is not just acidic, forgotten and mistreated for a long time but never recovered like today.