The Modern Nomads

Modena Italy is famous for and/or home to a few things. These include fast cars, balsamic vinegar and every Italian’s favorite cheese, Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Now if you love fast cars you already know this is home to luxury car brands like Ferrari, Maserati, Pagani, annd even nearby you will find Lamborghini. Car lovers from all over the world come here to visit these factories, see their private collections, walk through the museums, and if you want to splurge you can even hit the track in one of these cars!

And while that sounds exciting we went to Modena for a different purpose, to find Liquid Gold! And by that I mean Modern’a culinary speciality, the balsamic vinegar of Modena PGI.

It is called Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale (Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena) D.O.P., and it’s the highest quality, and therefore the most expensive balsamic vinegar in the world

Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena, D.O.P (Denominazione di Origine Protetta), is different from all other vinegar based condiments in that balsamic vinegar is produced directly from grape juice, not an alcoholic base. The process is really fascinating and if you are interested, you can click HERE to read more about it.

The process is very strict and very few families are still producing in this region and qualify for the D.O.P. Label. And to produce this perfect balsamic vinegar it literally takes decades. The rules govern where, who, how and when.

To give you some perspective, here is a breakdown of the aging requirements: Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena, D.O.P., Affinato (Aged) is aged for a minimum of 12 years, Extra Vecchio (Extra Old) is aged for a minimum of 25 years. Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale Di Modena, D.O.P. Riserva Oro (Gold Reserve) is aged over 100 years. (And we even got to try a Gold Reserve on

Our tour of Antic Acetaia Cavedoni

From an ancient family tradition dating back to 1860 comes to us one of the oldest vinegar houses in the Modena area. Antica Acetaia Cavedoni is a small family-run company that takes great care in the quality of its products and this quality starts from the careful choice of ingredients, continues in their constant control, in the perfect mixing and fermentation

https://www.acetaiacavedoni.it/en/

As we drove through the beautiful gates to the Cavedoni farm, we were met in the driveway by Paolo, a 6th generation craftsman. We really had no expectation for this tour but thought we would see how balsamic vinegar is made and get to do a tasting and let me tell you, it was so much more!

You start off with a tour of the farm, then a tour of where the magic happens. But the most interesting was the tasting and the tutorial on the different types of balsamic and how to use each. Now the best part was the tasting of course. We tasted different types and got to taste them with different dishes including salad, meats and cheeses, and even desert. Yes, who knew you can drizzle balsamic vinegar on sweets and it is delicious!

We really appreciated the passion the Cavedoni family have for their business. We got to walk through the production area and watch Paolo’s father steadily preparing bottles of this liquid gold. And each family member at birth has their own “battery” that is for their personal use and will be enjoyed for their lifetime and beyond. We even got to see the battery from 1860 which is the oldest and it is still used to produce the Gold Reserve for their family.

These last and characteristic phases take place in the real production unit that is the “battery“. It is a set of barrels with normally decreasing volumes, often of different woods, through which vinegar proceeds over the years thanks to the annual practice of “racking“. This is done annually and usually in the cold season, in order to compensate for shortages due to natural evaporation and withdrawals.

https://www.acetaiacavedoni.it/en/vinegar-cellar/

Of course we have some takeaways from this visit. A case of those takewaways are on their way back to Texas for us to enjoy for many years to come. But the other takeways were the lessons we learned. We have a better understanding of the different types or grades of balsamic, other derivatives (such as SABA) and more importantly, how to read the labels and what to look for when we are buying balsamic in the future.

Getting to Modena

While we were staying in La Spezia and gallivanting around the Cinque Terre, we took a day and drove to Moderna. It is only about a 2 hour drive (each way) and while that may seem like a lot for a day trip it is well worth it!

The good news is that you can actually plan a day trip to Modena from many popular Italy destinations. You can also get here from Florence in about 2 hours, Venice in about 2 hours and if you are Verona, you can get there in less than an hour and a a half. So it is definitely a place that everyone should add to their Italy bucket list!