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Packsize | 6/250 ML |
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Leonardi’s Sigillo Argento is a masterful blend of cooked grape must and high quality wine vinegar. Thick as maple syrup, with notes of cooked grapes like a good Amarone, and a long subtle acidic finish.
Drizzle over a sizzling hot grilled steak or pork chop, as well as on grilled eggplant, peppers, mushrooms, and zucchini. Wonderful swirled into butternut squash soup or creamy Parmigiano risotto. Highlight the freshness of freshly sliced plums, nectarines, and peaches. Use instead of caramel or chocolate sauce over baked pears and apples.
Packsize | 6/250 ML |
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The Vinegar farmhouse Leonardi started its activity in the 18th century but it is from the middle of the 19th century that it has been specialized in the production of balsamic vinegar, using the own raw material. In fact, the farmhouse is surrounded by 10 hectares of vineyards mainly with grapes varieties of Trebbiano (white grape) and Lambrusco (red grape). It is a closed cycle farm since all the production steps take place in the same plant.
Acetaia Leonardi’s Saba is unique. The family’s Trebbiano and Lambrusco grapes are grown in the 7 hectares surrounding the family home and acetaia. After a gentle crushing, the juice and pulp is coarsely filtered and the mosto (mash), is cooked (cotto) in an open copper vat at 175-200°F for a day or two, reducing it to about a third the volume. The concentrated mosto cotto is then cooled and placed in large oak casks which were previously inoculated with a mother of vinegar, a batch of vinegar alive with a culture of aceto-bacteria. The Saba will stay in the casks for almost 4 years, giving a deep complexity to the Saba, without converting it to vinegar.
The sweet Trebbiano grape must is reduced until a delicate golden color, then transferred to oak barrels previously acidified by mother vinegar in order for it to generate the acidification process.
Since the rules of the Consorzio of Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena allow only a limited number of bottles a year to bear the Seal of Quality, many of the traditional producers bottle a limited amount of balsamico under the Condimento Balsamico category and label. This means that the product has not undergone the scrutiny nor the very limited quota of the Traditional consortium and therefore, reflects the quality standards of the Leonardi family.
Syrupy as a chocolate sauce. Shades of brown with bright mirror refflections. Aromas of grapes, apples and caramel with a well-balanced hint of wild flower honey and maple syrup. Rich and vibrant on the tongue with a sudden lively finish. Sweet and sour in the front of the mouth and in the back with evolving caramel flavors, raisins and fresh cherries.
Il Pregiato (the precious one) is the Leonardi’s family selection from a batteria with minimum 10 travasi (topping up).
Documents dating back to the 16th century show that by this time, balsamic vinegar was a prized ingredient reserved for the court of the Duke of Este (Italy) and the chosen few, to whom he would give it as presents and menus from this period show that it was always present at meals. Indeed, its popularity was such that the whole of the west tower of the Ducal Palace in Modena was dedicated exclusively to its production.