Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale -- Affinato Aged 20-30 Years

Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale -- Affinato Aged 20-30 Years



Are You Interested in Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale -- Affinato Aged 20-30 Years Yes, I think that interesting .
Customer Shopping BuZZ


Not As Advertised
I plunked down my $80 for a bottle of the Pedroni "Affinato" ("Affinity") balsamic vinegar and was sadly disappointed. To begin with, it comes with a catalog from A. G. Ferrari Foods which tells you that's it's been aged for "at least 12 years," NOT 20 YEARS as stated above. Whoops, a bad omen. The next bad omen is this: Nowhere on the box or the bottle does it actually have the name "Affinato" or the real age. It does say Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale, but at this price, I like the label on the product to tell me that it is what I thought I ordered. And I like to know that they keep track of their aging process better than my wife does (we're celebrating her 39th birthday for the 10th time).
Bad omen number three: When you swirl it around in the bottle, it does coat the inside of the glass briefly - but it is NOT as thick as syrup. Now, one of the selling points for aceto balsamico that has been awarded the "Tradizionale" designation is that "the real stuff," as Ferrari's catalog calls it, is as thick as syrup and a few luxurious (Ferrari's adjective is "voluptuous") drops on a slice of Parmigiano Reggiano will give your palate intense pleasure. Hmmm. Well, the proof of the pudding is in the tasting. Let's open it.
My wife and I tried it on the finest Parmigiano Reggiano that money can buy and the most perfect strawberries we could find. Conclusion: The "Affinato" vinegar is sweet-and-sour but not exceptionally complex, and it more or less detracts from the natural taste of a plain strawberry. On quality Parmesan cheese it is better - but again, we decided we'd rather enjoy the perfection of the Reggiano cheese on its own. I do think it would go very well with avocado, but we didn't have one handy.
Complexity is the point. Aceto balsamico becomes complex when it is moved from one kind of barrel to another during the aging process. It spends a few years in oak barrels, then moves on to another kind of wood (they never tell you exactly what) and so on. From each type of wood it's supposed to pick up subtle nuances of flavor. It's like winemaking, where for example aging a chardonnay in French oak barrels makes it lose some of its chalky-tasting tannic acid and absorb some of the vanillin that occurs naturally in the wood. That added vanilla taste gives us what we call an "oaky" chardonnay. Alas, the "Affinato" vinegar is not oaky, not mysteriously subtle, it's just a very good sweet-and-sour vinegar.
They also say you can sip it. Fair warning: if you do that, the fumes go up your nose and it makes you cough. Hey, it's still vinegar. The best use of the "Affinato" is to make an oil-and-vinegar salad dressing with extra virgin olive oil and a kiss of garlic, and in that application it makes a truly outstanding dressing. Lip-smacking.
My wife and I have been using "balsamic vinegar" that's in the $20 - $25 range for many years. We looked forward with great anticipation to this step-up to a true "Tradizionale" aceto balsamico at 3 times the price. The Tradizionale designation is the equivalent of the "Premier Grand Cru" designation that's awarded to top Bordeaux wines - like Chateau Lafite Rothchild or Chateau Haut Brion - and we were expecting something on that level, where every sip gives you subtle new surprises in flavor. We didn't get it.
One more thing. Though neither the Ferrari catalog nor the product description above tells you how much you're getting in a bottle of Affinato, it's 100 milliliters (3 fluid ounces). As for product information, even if you can read Italian, the type font on the label is so small that it literally takes a magnifying glass to read it.
Let me add that I write this negative review reluctantly. I am one of Amazon.com's greatest fans. I greatly value Amazon's unique democracy of Customer Shopping BuZZ and spend at least a couple thousand dollars a year on Amazon.com. I've contributed positive, five-star reviews of books and CDs that are really special. This negative review does not in the least weaken my faith in Amazon, but in this case the product discription is misleading.
Who knows, maybe you'd be better off spending your hard-earned money on Ferrari's $150 Extra Vecchio ("Extra Age") balsamic, which the catalog states is "aged for at least 25 years" (not 30 years as stated above). As for me, I can't afford the experiment. And so far, what I've tasted from the Merchants of Modena has not lived up to the legend or the hype.
About Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale -- Affinato Aged 20-30 Years detail

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15247 in Gourmet Food
  
• Size: 100 ml
  
• Brand: Pedroni
  
• Dimensions: 1.25 pounds
  

Features

• Award-winning balsamic, aged in wooden barrels.
  
• Sweeet, thick and complex
  
• Makes a luxurious acompaniment to vegetables, meat, ice cream
  
• For a outstanding dessert, drizzle a few drops over fresh strawberries
  
• Savor as an after-diner digestive
  

Product Description


Traditional balsamic from Modena.Pedroni's Affinato and Extra Vecchio balsamics, barrel aged for 20 and 30 years respectively, are thick, complex and viscous. What is unique about Italo Pedroni's balsamic-making style is that he boils the grape must down to less than half of its original volume to concentrate the flavors of the grape, resulting in a sweeter and more intense balsamic.This balsamico tradizionale makes a luxurious accompaniment to vegetables, meat, ice cream, strawberries, or savored as an after-dinner digestive.
Using traditional techniques, Italo and Giuseppe carefully age their award-winning balsamics in wooden barrels. The governing body that oversees the production of and sets the quality standards by which traditional balsamics are measured actually holds its tastings at Italos restaurant not only because they love his food, but because Italo is fanatical in his adherence to the demandinf guidelines set by the governing Cosorzio.
Our mission at A.G. Ferrari Foods for more than 80 years has been to share our passion for food and wine in the tradition of our Italian-born founder, Annibale Giovanni Ferrari, and his family. Three generations later and over 80 years, we still hold strong to the same mission, La Qualità Non Ha Tempo or Quality Is Timeless.[tr id=ourprice]
Amazon [td class=pricelabel]Price: [/td][td]$139.00[/td] [/tr]


Source From cheappriceall-20
Have a COOL !
Cheers Tag : Tradizionale, Aceto, Balsamico