Ermes Malpighi - Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena DOP Extra Vecchio · Limited Edition

Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena DOP Extra Vecchio, limited edition personally signed by Ermes Malpighi — fourth generation of the family and certified Master Taster AED. Aged in barrels of the most precious woods, with a density of 1.35 and an acidity of 5-6%. Limpid, dark and lustrous brown in the glass; decisive and harmonious on the nose; dense and velvety on the palate. 100% natural — no caramel, no colourings, no additives.

Not every bottle of Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena DOP carries a signature. This one does. Ermes Malpighi has spent a lifetime learning to read a drop of vinegar the way a winemaker reads a glass — the AED certification is the formal recognition of that work. His personal selection for this limited edition reflects the same discipline that has guided Acetaia Malpighi since 1850: five generations of the same Modenese family tending more than 3,500 casks in the silence of the attic, where temperature changes with the seasons and the vinegar breathes and thickens at its own pace.

The cooked grape must from Modenese grapes — Trebbiano and Lambrusco — is poured into the largest barrel of a batteria, then slowly transferred, year after year, into smaller casks of the six woods of the tradition: chestnut, cherry, juniper, mulberry, oak and acacia. Each wood gives something. Each year takes something away. The 100 ml bottle is the official one designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro for the DOP, here signed personally by Ermes Malpighi and presented in an elegant black case with a TIC dosing cap and a recipe booklet. Best enjoyed neat as a digestivo, or in drops on slivers of well-aged Parmigiano, on strawberries, on a finished risotto, on artisan vanilla ice cream, on dark chocolate.