Where to find REAL Balsamic Vinegar for cheap? Cheapest I can find is $99 for 100ml.

[W.C. Nimoy]

^hey where do you buy Mcnab ridge carisma? Only local to you ("707")?

Sorry, can't make any suggestions for their olive oils. I've only bought olive oil there once and it wasn't for my own stock.

I prefer Lucini. It's not cheap but it's the one I like so much I'm willing to pay the premium for it. Another one that I recently tried and really liked (just finished it off tonight) is a Spanish olive oil by Pompeian called Marca Roja.

Maybe not as dramatic a difference as I found the balsamic upgrade, & I didn't even have enough colavita left to do the best comparison, but there is definitely a difference between it and the lucini. I was skeptical after quick search seeing they were both tied for 2nd in some online budget olive oil review, & also considering they are side by side in WALMART. The lucini's obviously lighter & cleaner than the colavita though, which has been my go to for years. Definitely tastes better to me. Thanks.

Okay now do red wine... :sneaky :biggrin:

No I actually googled this forum for red wine hoping you'd already made a recommendation in an archived thread, since I fully trust your tastes on a budget now. The first result was a thread titled "Puked red wine on grandmas carpet!!", which goes on & on like the archived vinegar thread strictly about a paranoid schizophrenic having an episode at target.

Otherwise I'm going to try AreaCode707's "McNab Ridge Carisma" suggestion IF I can find it. I was hoping for something good but still commonly found, specs, central market, whole foods at least if not krogers or heb etc. Just not strictly online or anything. Cheating, shortcuts vs. trudging through my own experiments.

Thanks again for the recommendations.

 

[AreaCode707]

^hey where do you buy Mcnab ridge carisma? Only local to you ("707")?

Whoa, lol! That's an out of the blue question from another thread. As far as I know, they only sell out of the winery. I'm a wine club member there, actually. Depending on your state you should be able to have it shipped to you; drop them an email (Denise runs the tasting room) or give a call and see about having some sent out.

 

[Tango]

Being a balsamic enthusiast I sympathize with your efforts. Long story short: the best balsamic never makes it out of Italy. Actually, it never makes it out of Modena and the few restaurants around Italy who have connections with the acetaias. The reason is they are usually tiny operations which produce ridiculously low amounts of products (and will continue to, forever).

Among those one step up that can be found in the US, this is one of my favorites:

http://www.pastacheese.com/acetaia-...gdfV25561_a_7c2043_a_7c7542_a_7c8026298010141

This is also good:

http://www.pastacheese.com/acetaia-...gdfV25561_a_7c2043_a_7c7542_a_7c8026298010066

Of course you had asked for something cheaper, and this isn't... so I was not very helpful.

 

[Codewiz]

The IGP label allows for it to be made with a mixture of balsamic grape must and wine vinegar. Traditional Balsamic is made only from balsamic grape must.

For fucks sake, do you know what grape must is? And how it becomes "balsamic vinegar"?

If you did, you would understand the nonsense you are talking......

As a wine maker and home brewer, this type of shit drives me nuts.

Look up Trappist beer. Technically, I can't brew a Trappist beer because I am not a monk. But guess what, I can brew a Trappist beer with the exact same ingredients. It just isn't brewed by a monk. It can't be called a Trappist beer really because of who brewed it.

Do you know what wine vinegar is made from? OMG, from grape must

 

[AreaCode707]

For fucks sake, do you know what grape must is? And how it becomes "balsamic vinegar"?

If you did, you would understand the nonsense you are talking......

As a wine maker and home brewer, this type of shit drives me nuts.

Look up Trappist beer. Technically, I can't brew a Trappist beer because I am not a monk. But guess what, I can brew a Trappist beer with the exact same ingredients. It just isn't brewed by a monk. It can't be called a Trappist beer really because of who brewed it.

Do you know what wine vinegar is made from? OMG, from grape must

I'm assuming "balsamic grape must" is must made from the classic "balsamic" grape.

Though, to be fair, a good number of balsamics for sale are a mixture of saba (boiled grape must reduced to the point of sweetness) and unaged vinegar rather than actual aged vinegar made sweet through aging and evaporation. That has nothing to do with the IGP label though.