Riccardo Giusti 12 Year Old Balsamic
Description
Volume: 250ml
Named after the founder of the company, this extraordinarily dense balsamic vinegar with a pleasantly sweet aftertaste was created using one of Riccardo’s ancient recipes. A long ageing process in the Giusti family’s antique barrels has produced a full bodied round balsamic, which can be added directly to all foods as a thick sauce. It is also recommended for barbequed meats and fish, cheeses and fruits, or just on its own.
First prize winner in 2009 in tastings organized by Germany’s foremost food and wine magazine ‘Der Feinschmacker’ competing against 79 Balsamic Vinegars from Modena.
Gold medal 2008 as best vinegar at the ‘Sofe Awards’ organized by the influential US magazine ‘Speciality Food’.
Ingredients
Aged wine vinegar, cooked grape must
Our Producer
Gran Deposito Balsamic Vinegar by Giuseppe Giusti
We hope that you enjoy our selection of Balsamic Vinegars. We wanted to bring you the best quality prize winning vinegar at great prices and to be able to assure you that you won’t find any mention of extracts, sugars, preservatives or colourings on our labels.
There are many brands and types of so-called balsamic vinegar, most are cheap and artificially coloured and thickened. The real, mouth wateringly good ones are a little more expensive, thanks to the superior production method and lengthy ageing process undertaken, and are a world apart from their imposters.
Our producer is Giuseppe Giusti in Modena. Seventeen generations of his family have been producing high quality balsamic vinegar since 1605 and have won numerous prizes (including 14 Gold Medals) over the centuries. They were the authors of the first documented recipe for the production of Balsamic Vinegar and are the custodians of the most extraordinary existing cask reserve, composed of invaluable century old barrels.
Giuseppe Giusti and his family select good quality Trebbiano and Lambrusco grapes and slowly reduce the grape juice in copper kettles until it is thick, dark and sweet. No caramel is added to sweeten and colour it - this is the industrial way to mimic age. Giusti do not reduce by speedy pressurisation either, as do many industrial producers of balsamic.
Giusti add only good quality wine vinegar to the cooked grape must, and then age it in traditional barrels of various woods - juniper, cherry, oak, ash, and mulberry. Each wood infuses the balsamic with its own unique flavour and aroma. The family have over 1000 barrels in use - 600 of which are over 200 years old. Many industrial producers have only a few barrels and large, stainless steel silos.