| |
|
|
Balsamic
vinegar has very ancient origins, lost in history. It is conceivable that the
practice of producing this particular vinegar might have come about by chance,
perhaps after having left another typical product, the so-called Saba or Sapa,
which is a sort of simmered must, in some wooden vessel where a different liquid
that vaguely possessed flavours resembling those of the future Balsamico happened
to develop. If we want to avoid speculation and refer to trustworthy documents
we must go back to the 12th century, when the Benedectine monk Donizone narrates
in his ‘Vita Mathildis’, written about the celebrated Countess Mathilda
of Canossa, an episode concerning Emperor Henry III, who was proceeding to Piacenza.
Henry requested Mathilda’s father, Marquis Boniface, for a vinegar that he
had heard became there most perfect. In response to such a prestigious authority
the marquis sent, placed on a carriage drawn by oxen, a tiny silver cask that
contained the very best of the precious mixture. That the present must have been
highly appreciated by the emperor is proved by another tribute, equally worthy
of a sovereign, paid by a vassal from Mantua, contemporary of Boniface, of one
hundred bay horses equipped with saddles and bridles, and of two hundred hunting
goshawks. The Canossa House’s rule was in fact centered over to-day’s
provinces of Modena and Reggio. The denomination Balsamico, however, does not
appear officially in documents for many years to come, and we have to go alla
the way to 1747 to find it in the register of grapes harvesting for the Secret
Ducal Wine-cellar of the Este House. Nevertheless, as early as 1556 in a volume
of the court appears a precise list of tipologies in use for vinegars, from the
common to the excellent, reserved to nobility. In 1863 it was written by Sestini
that ‘Since very ancient times a particular kind of vinegar, whose physical
aspect and excellence of flavour have earned it the denomination of Balsamico,
is produced in the provinces of Modena and Reggio. Among the points of merit,
ageing is the most important; and great care is taken in suitably certifying it.
Balsamic vinegars aged of 50, 70 and 80 years are classified as good; excellent
are those 100, 120 or 150 years old; and when one owns those of 200 or more years
he cannot wish for more!’ In the congress held in the same 1863 by the agricultural
association mention is made of a balsamic vinegar of extraordinary quality aged
360 years! showing that the skills of Balsamico production was already in full
bloom at the very beginning of the 16th century. But it is with Agazzotti, in
1862, that a codification of ‘natural’ Balsamico is made, by means of
a famous letter which, trimmed of details relating to minor practices, remains
to this day the original manifesto of Balsamico. |
|
|
