The centuries-old traditions of the Modenese balsamic vinegar makers are alive and flourishing in the attics of Castlevetro.

Nothing pleases Mario Pelloni, the man considered by many Italians as the master Balsamic vinegar producer, more than to have people come away from sampling his creation with a look of rapture on their faces. Unlike wine, vinegar is not a high-profile product and few people ever acknowledge the work required to make a truly outstanding example. Yet this is exactly what Signor Pelloni has achieved.

As a young boy in Castlevetro, a town perched upon a hillock just south of Modena in northern Italy, Mario Pelloni was made privy to the family secret for making the tangy, aromatic balsamic vinegar which today brings clients from as far afield as the United States and Australia to his attic door.

"It has always been a tradition of the Modenese people that each family make its own balsamic vinegar", Signor Pelloni explains. "The nobility especially made a point of having vinegar batteries in the attics of their villas and castles. This tradition is steeped in culture and reflects the concern of the Modenese people for always eating the very best foods. The best food, they realised ought also have the best condiment, and the best condiment was that which was made from the very best raw product Nature herself provides - grapes. It is from grapes that we derived our wines, and from grapes too that we derived the secret for making our now famous balsamic vinegar".

The hills and plains around the Medieval town of Castlevetro are perfectly suited to the growing of fine grapes, Trebbiano in particular. This sugar-rich white grape with its high acidity and long maturation period, was considered by the Modenese of the Middle-Ages as God's gift to the region of Emilia-Romagna, and was thus cultivated, harvested and nurtured to produce delightfully fruity white wines.

"But it was also found to be a grape more than aptly suited to the making of vinegar", explains Signor Pelloni serving out a dish of locally produced parmesan cheese lightly soaked in his balsamic vinegar. "My grandfather was the one in our family who kept up the centuries-old tradition of making balsamic vinegar at home. He had been taught by his father, and his father had been taught by his father before him, and on it goes for countless generations. Even today tradition dictates that the father or mother pass the knowledge on to their youngest son or daughter. I don't know why it should go to the youngest, but it is what has always been the case.

"As for myself I learned from my grandfather", he continues, "just as I learned the art of cooking which I now apply here in my restaurant. The problem was that society began moving at such a rapid pace that too few young people of my generation, and fewer still of this current generation, took the time to learn the craft. Today there are only a handful of us even in this region who refuse to make the vinegar in any but the old-fashioned way".

Old-fashioned or not, Mario Pelloni has built up a reputation for making a balsamic vinegar so refined and delicate to the taste that demand outstrips supply. So much so in fact that even the smallest of glass vessels containing the richly dark brown, slightly astringent liquid, is a luxury few can afford frequently.

"The cost of my vinegar reflects two things", explains Signor Pelloni after he is satisfied that the vinegar-coated parmesan cheese was as he had anticipated; deliciously spicy, with the taste of the cheese complemented rather than disguised by the vinegar. "The first aspect is that I make my vinegar only from the finest Trebbiano grapes, grown locally specifically for that purpose. And secondly, there is considerable skill and workmanship involved in getting such a remarkable product".

In an effort to get the highest possible sugar level in the grapes, the selected vineyard is harvested well after the usual harvesting period. By the time Signor Pelloni is happy with the baume level, the last vestiges of Autumn sun have well and truly faded. Yet he will have it no other way, insisting that unless the sugar level is sufficiently high the must will not cook properly and the resulting vinegar will be acidic rather than tart.

"In order to get the vinegar I have spent a lifetime nurturing, it is essential that every step be faithful to those followed by my ancestors", says Signor Pelloni. "Once the grapes are harvested I then supervise the pressing, making sure that no fermentation occurs at this point which might turn the sugar into alcohol. Two basic fermentations occur much later; one due to the sugar, the other due to the vinegar yeasts which bring about what is called acetous fermentation. For the moment however, I collect the must and place it in a cauldron, where it will cook over an open fire until boiled. It is here that the nose and palate of the maker must decide when the must is ready for filtering and cooling. At that point we begin the process known as Rincalzo, the passing of the newly cooked must from barrel to barrel in the attic".

The attic has always been the traditional place for maturing the balsamic vinegar, and as Signor Pelloni is faithful to every detail of tradition, he has set aside the attic of a Medieval warehouse just across the square from his restaurant specifically for this purpose. Named La Vecchia Dispensa, it is here that the cooked must is filtered after boiling and passed from the cauldron into small oak casks where it is left to settle over winter. The following spring, the settled must is drawn and removed in a series of rackings from one cask to another, sometimes passing from oak to chestnut-wood to cherrywood, ash and finally to mulberry-wood. The exact procedure and sequence of the racking is a family secret and is the method by which small but significant differences between balsamic vinegars of different regions and indeed different families are imparted. Given that the balsamic vinegar can go on maturing for over fifty years if racked properly it is obvious why Signor Pelloni is reluctant to give away too much.

Seen from the valley below, Castlevetro gives the impression of being a fortified town, the towering turrets of the Medieval castle which plays host to Signor Pelloni's restaurant - Ristorante al Castello, rising gloriously from behind a row of small oaks. Once the seat for some of Modena's most powerful families - such as the Rangone and the Marquis Fulvio, Castelvetro retains much of the charm and ambience of its historic past. Just outside Signor Pelloni's restaurant - where one can dine on such traditional Modenese dishes as spinach and ricotta tortellini or linguini with pancetta, is the square designed to resemble a huge chess board. It is here, flanked by La Vecchia Dispensa on one side and the sixteenth-century clock tower on the other, that one of the town's more unusual annual events takes place.

Called II Gioco della Dama, a cavalcade of people dressed in Medieval costume take part in a two day festival commemorating the return to freedom of one of Italy's most celebrated sixteenth century poets, Torquato Tasso. Persecuted by the ruling families of Bologna for supposedly writing a seditious poem defaming them, the great poet was given refuge by the Ragone family in Castlevetro until his innocence could be proven. The festival is a reenactment of the poets triumphant return to the town after being acquitted of the charge.

"The festival is also in honour of the beautiful and bountiful gifts Nature has blessed our region with", points out Signor Pelloni. "We love tradition. That is why we have the festival, and why I continue to make Balsamic vinegar in the same fashion it has been made from the earliest days of the town. by keeping it in the attic as it alternates between hibernation and maturing, Nature plays her own hand; offering both the heat of summer and the cold of winter to the overall process.

"It is out of respect for tradition too that I make a point of only serving traditional meals in my restaurant", he adds. "The hurried life of this century has left little room for tradition, and few are the people who know how to create those dishes which once so elegantly graced our dining tables. Fewer still are those who even recognise the benefits of eating food created out of a love for cooking and a respect for fresh produce.

"Only in the last five or six years have people begun to return to the cuisines that once fed a nation", Signor Pelloni continues. "We were all so busy making money that we forgot about tradition, abandoned culture and generally lost sight of the goodness inherent in home cooking. Italians, like everyone else in this hurried world, abandoned their kitchens for the fast-food lane of the Supermarkets. My ambition has always been to give back what I remember of the cuisines on which my forefathers were bred".

To this end Signor Pelloni has gone to great lengths to ensure that he only buys the freshest produce available; and always from local farmers and growers. Hams, proscuitto, vegetables, fish, veal, beef, and venison are all personally selected by Signor Pelloni, with nothing entering his kitchen unless he or his wife have personally authorised it.

"I make many of the dishes myself, including the desserts; everything from the gelato to the Amaretti biscuits", Signor Pelloni smiles. "We even make all our own pasta right here on the premises. But it is my wife who is in charge in the kitchen. She is a very good cook, and I know that under her guidance our younger cooking staff will learn the art of traditional cooking as it ought to be taught, and that nothing will come out to the diner's table unless it is absolutely perfect".

As an instance of the care taken to ensure that only food of the highest quality comes to the table, Signor Pelloni walks the floor talking to patrons and checking on the plates set before them. A plate of lightly browned, soft wafers that by his judgment cooled while the patrons have been talking is quickly replaced by a hot batch fresh from the pan. A scaloppini dish bathed in a touch too much balsamic vinegar is quietly but swiftly removed, Signor Pelloni commenting to an attentive apprentice cook that balsamic vinegar is a condiment not a sauce and should be used with the respect afforded the best wines.
"Balsamic vinegar is by its very nature powerful", he points out a moment later. "Using it too liberally is like spilling precious wine down the sink. The purpose of the vinegar is to both enhance the natural flavours of the dish with which it is used, and to add an extra taste dimension. As a salad-dressing for instance, used alone or mixed with champagne, balsamic vinegar has no equal. I even give it to my regular guests on a teaspoon as an after-dinner digestive. They adore it".

Signor Pelloni pauses a moment to allow the waiter to pour out a few short glasses of the after-dinner drink he makes himself, a variation on the famous almond-based Amaretto, and called 'Laurino'. "The trick to using balsamic vinegar properly is to know when to add it to the dish", he adds. "Add it too soon and the dish is overpowered, losing all the characteristics of the fish or meat, or whatever. Add it too late and the vinegar doesn't have time to blend with and enhance the taste of the food. Again here, as in the making, the skill of the individual is involved. That is why I take so much trouble to train my staff; because you cannot waste what may take years to reach maturity, and because too much attention to detail is never enough. When people come to my restaurant they come to sample two things, our cooking and my vinegar. In neither case should they ever be disappointed.