Two local grape varietals—fruity, juicy Croatina and light, bright Barbera grapes—create a balanced, vibrant blend, with an intense aroma and rounded caramel notes in addition to sharp acidity. Use Acetaia San Giacomo's Six-Year Reserve wherever you might use red, white or sherry vinegar; a small amount will suffice since this vinegar is undiluted and more potent than others. Splash some in with caramelized onions to add brightness, or use it in place of sherry vinegar in our Onion Frittata with Sherry Vinegar Sauce. We also like substitute this red wine vinegar for sherry vinegar in our Portuguese Style Beef with Pickled Onions and Olives or Roasted Chicken Breasts with Grapes and Sherry Vinegar. Add a splash to bean soups, especially lentils or your favorite marinara sauce, where it'll cut the sweetness of the tomatoes and elevate the other flavors. Or pair Six-Year Reserve Red Wine Vinegar with good olive oil to dip bread in as you would balsamic, to savor all the vibrant qualities of this bold, complex ingredient.

We love this white wine vinegar for its sweet aroma and bright acidity. The light, bright flavor and pleasant minerality of this white wine vinegar is best highlighted in a crisp vinaigrette, or you can use to quick-pickle vegetables, as in our Herbed Egg Salad with Pickled Red Onion, inspired by a cooking lesson from Deborah Madison.

The balsamic vinegar has an inky, almost syrupy consistency and is balanced between acidic and sweet, with a rich dried-fruit undertone. Quality this high is best enjoyed straight, drizzled over most any grilled or roasted meat, roasted vegetables, cheeses or garden-fresh tomatoes. Or try as a counterpoint to sweet berries or vanilla ice cream.

This smooth, full-bodied raspberry vinegar from French artisanal producer Huilerie Beaujolaise is wonderfully complex, with a perfect balance between tart and sweet that works in both sweet and savory recipes. Unlike the ambiguous mixed-berry flavor of other vinegars, there is no mistaking the raspberry characteristics in this vinegar. It has a concentrated, jam-like fruitiness without being cloyingly sweet—rather, the berries' natural tartness combined with acetic acid make for a well-rounded flavor profile with plenty of depth, like a brighter version of balsamic. Huilerie Beaujolaise enhances the vinegar with a bit of raspberry juice after fermentation, which creates a fuller mouthfeel similar to that of barrel-aged vinegar.

Jean Marc Huilerie Beaujolaise honey vinegar is just that: a nuanced honey made from honey. Its got a warm all-purpose flavor that works beautifully for dressings, vinaigrettes and pan sauces. The honey flavor is subtle, though pairs particularly well with pork, chicken, winter squash, sweet potatoes, bitter greens and nuts. 

Similar to red wine vinegar but slightly less sharp, Mutti's Tomato Vinegar has a sweet-savory balance and smooth quality reminiscent of balsamic, with an intense sun-dried tomato aroma. It's not too acidic but rather balanced by caramelized sweetness and an earthy umami depth. This complex vinegar enhances raw tomato recipes and can be used in simple applications. We like to drizzle some on caprese salads or toss it in pasta salad, with feta or goat cheese as a creamy counterpoint.

Vinagres de Yema’s Cepa Vieja falls somewhere between a balsamic and a red wine vinegar, with a sweet flavor and lingering hint of raisiny must that is typical of aged sherries. Aged in 100-year-old oak barrels, the final product has the complexity of every previous batch, as well as smoky notes from the oak itself. The company—founded by renowned winemaker Fernando T. De Terry y Galarza in Spain’s Andalucia—produces its vinegar via the solera method, the same process used to blend sherries of different ages. With the flavor profile of sherry vinegar that has been aged for 25 years, Cepa Vieja is the oldest vintage available from the company. Try it combined with sweet-tart grapes in our Roasted Chicken Breasts with Grapes and Sherry Vinegar.