A tale of Balsamico di Modena. Ever wondered why the price of balsamic vinegar in a (Dutch) supermarket is on average five Euros, and at the deli easily a hundred?
If we take one from the supermarket, we see the characteristic ‘Protected Geographical Indication’. It is described as ‘Aceto balsamico di Modena I.G.P.’ with ingredients of grape vinegar and grape must. The vinegar is made from grapes growing in the Modena region in Italy. Therefore, it is a protected geographical indication:
If this product bears the certificate PGI, how can there be a balsamic vinegar even more expensive? Well, another certificate exists, the ‘Protected Designation of Origin’, which looks like this:
This type of balsamic vinegar is made exclusively from grape must, with no added wine vinegar. It is aged for at least 12 years in wood barrels following a specific system of aging (the Solera-system, where the oldest and smallest barrel is topped up with the product from an adjacent younger barrel, which will in turn be topped up with product from its younger neighbor etc.). It is bottled in identical shaped bottles of 100 ml.
As you can see, there are two types of ‘Aceto balsamico di Modena’. With very different price levels. Let us look at the difference.
The blue labelled certificate indicates a PGI, a Protected geographical indication, for food, agricultural products and wines. It emphasizes the relationship between the specific geographic region and the name of the product, where a particular quality, reputation or other characteristic is essentially attributed to its geographical origin. At least one of the stages of production, processing or preparation takes place in that region.
The red labelled certificate indicates a PDO, a Protected designation of origin, also for food, agricultural products and wines. This label is more strict, as every part of the production, processing and preparation process must take place in the specific region.
This is how Aceto balsamico di Modena can have two GI’s. So next time you intend to buy a pricey bottle of Aceto balsamico di Modena and it has a blue label, we would recommend to swiftly put it back and look for one with a red label….
Author: Marloes Smilde
