Wine

I looked around my kitchen the other day and took a quick inventory of the open bottles of wine. A bottle of Chateau Pesquie with just a few ounces missing still sits in the cookbook basket. One quarter of a bottle of Buena Vista Pinot Noir, Savenierre and Gris d’Amador in the fridge, and half a bottle of Valsotilla, a quirky Ribera del Duero red.

I realized that I had five open bottles of wine in the house and couldn’t remember when I opened three of them. This column is about making lemonade out of lemons, or more appropriately, “How to Make Vinegar.”

First of all, what is vinegar? In simplest terms, the name derives from the French “Vin Aigre,” or sour wine. Fermented grape juice becomes wine, and fermented wine becomes vinegar.

It is basically an acidic solution whose main ingredient is acetic acid. If you’ve ever tried an older bottle of wine that had a sweet/sour taste too it, you may be familiar with acetic acid.

You may draw some similarities between making vinegar and making bread, beer or working on cars. Yes, even cars need a starter. The starter for vinegar is mycoderma aceti, or mere de vinaigre, which simply means mother of vinegar. You don’t have to buy the starter, but it saves a lot of time. It can be purchased online from a number of beer and wine making supply stores.

Making red wine vinegar is pretty easy. Here are the things you need:

1 one gallon glass container

1 cheese cloth (or towel)

red wine

vinegar starter (optional but recommended)

If you get the starter kit, just put the mere de vinaigre in the bottom of your container and add red wine. Cover the top with the cheese cloth or towel so air can get in but light cannot. Over time, the culture will form a sheen over the top of the liquid (creating an oxygen barrier), and it will eventually resemble the old paint bucket with the pliable rubbery dry paint floating over the liquid paint below.

You have basically created an acetic acid factory. If left alone, the acidity will continue to increase until the wine can no longer support the mycoderma aceti. To deal with this, continuously add wine to the container. This will feed the starter while keeping the acidity in check.

There are a number of factors that make it impossible to give specific timelines for finished vinegar. Here are some hints for success. Store your container at room temperature.

The scum on the surface will look pretty gross, but it is an important part of the process and should be there. If any mold grows on the surface, just scoop it off!

When you harvest your vinegar, never take more than half of it and filter the vinegar through coffee filters to remove the solids. Once removed, you can bottle your vinegar in an airtight container (this will keep it from continuing to ferment).

Happy New Year!

Contact Matt Devan at wineguy@lagniappemobile.com.

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