❦ Curated

Notte di Modena

Balsamic Vinegar of Modena PGI

€26.90

The house's flagship dark balsamic, aged well beyond what PGI requires - Trebbiano and Lambrusco Grasparossa, cooked over open fire, refined up to eight years in oak and cherry.

Origin Módena, Italia

Producer Acetaia Sereni

Volume 500 ml

Appearance

Almost black, glossy, viscous. Coats the spoon.

Aroma

Cooked grape, dried fig, dark caramel, cherrywood.

Taste · Primary

Sweet-acid balance, caramel, dried fig.

Taste · Secondary

Oak complexity, mulberry, soft acetic structure.

Texture

Concentrated, rounded, palate-coating.

Finish

Long, sweet-savoury, multi-wood resonance.

FROM OUR TABLELa pacienciaOrganic Cured Manchego DOP

FROM OUR TABLENubes Del ReggianoFreeze-Dried Parmigiano Reggiano Cream

Notte di Modena is Acetaia Sereni's classic dark Balsamic Vinegar of Modena PGI, held to a discipline well above the regulatory floor. Where PGI requires only a small fraction of cooked must and a couple of months of ageing, Sereni uses far higher cooked-must ratios and ages every batch at least a full year, with reserve bottlings held five to eight years in oak and cherry.

Trebbiano and Lambrusco Grasparossa grapes are crushed and cooked over open fire, then left to ferment, evaporate and stabilise in the attic batterie, where the swing of the seasons drives the slow transformation. No caramel, no shortcut - natural acetification, time as the principal ingredient.

The Producer

Acetaia Sereni - Villabianca, Módena

The Sereni family began making balsamic in the early twentieth century, as Modenese housewives traditionally did - a small batch each year, aged in barrels passed between generations as wedding dowries. When the Consorzio Tutela Aceto Balsamico di Modena was founded in 1993, it was Sereni who produced bottle number 001 of the first DOP Tradizionale ever sealed. That bottle still rests in the house gallery.

Estate Villabianca, Módena · 25 hectares

Founded Early twentieth century · Fourth generation

Certification PGI · Consorzio Tutela

Distinction Bottle No. 001 · First DOP Tradizionale sealed

The Process

Open fire. Attic barrels. Seasonal heat.

The must is cooked over open fire, then ferments and evaporates in the attic batterie - where the wide swing of seasonal temperature drives the slow transformation. The attic is not incidental. The heat of summer and cold of winter are the engine. Fifteen hundred barrels, each holding a different chapter of the same long conversion.

Grapes Trebbiano · Lambrusco Grasparossa

Cooking Cooked must over open fire · Natural acetification

Ageing At least one year · Reserve bottlings five to eight years

Barrels Oak and cherry, in the attic batterie

“We do not rush what fire and time have agreed to finish together”

Acetaia Sereni · Módena, Italia