In Modena I discovered a few affordable balsamic vinegars that approach the complexity of the small-fortune kind. I also learned to be generous. Restaurateurs in Emilia-Romagna use spoons or pour straight from the bottle. Even in late May the Modenese heat and humidity were stifling, and the air never moved. Factories in the Po Valley help to cause frequent inversions, but long before industry came, the plains suffered damp, cold winters and close, humid summers.
Cool winters give both wood and vinegar time to rest before the next season's workout.
Most wine vinegar doesn' t interest me. I've tried many vinegars made by artisans using exceptional wines as a base, and have found them too thin and sharp. Although almost all vinegar is around six percent acetic acid when it's bottled, producers often water it down to bring it to that level, diluting flavor and texture. Grape sugar tempers the acidity of balsamic vinegar, and the aging in wood gives it interest. Adding sugar to vinegar is not the way to get that push-pull, although virtually every producer of balsamic vinegar outside Modena does that, and quite a few in Modena as well.