Short History of Vinegar
History
Our vinegar is made in the traditional French Orléans style. Known as the vinegar of Kings, this style of vinegar is a result of a careful conversion of quality wine in French oak barrels.
For hundreds of years boats carrying wine from the major wine areas of France docked in Orléans, just south of Paris, to be warehoused. Soured wine (vin-agar) was separated and sold. Vinegar makers would purchase the soured wine and allowed the vinegar to further age and mature.
For over 400 years, the City of Orléans was the vinegar producer of France and by the 16th century there were over 300 vinegar and mustard makers located in the city. Around France, vinegar makers would sell vinegar to households in small barrels pushed on a wheelbarrows as shown in the picture. The average person consumed a lot of vinegar each day in a variety of recipes.
The vinegar was a favourite of the kings of France and King Francis I enacted a Royal Decree making Orléans style vinegar the only vinegar to be served to the king.
Process
The Orléans process is a perpetual cycle that transforms wine into vinegar while in French oak barrels. A portion of the vinegar is drawn from the production barrel and transferred into an aging barrel. Quality wine is added to the production barrel to replace the volume of liquid taken out.
This new introduction of alcohol begins to feed the mother allowing the cycle to be repeated. The mother of vinegar is the aerobic bacteria that lives in a mass in the barrel and uses the alcohol of the wine to make acetic acid or vinegar.
Aging the vinegar in French oak barrels is an important step in following the tradition. Like any good wine the aging process matures the vinegar with light oak flavours and softens the acidity of the vinegar. Orléans style vinegar retains the flavour, bouquet and nutrients of the original wine.
