Made from Riesling wine from Lonsheim (VDP Rheinhessen, Germany), this vinegar is aged for 12 months in French oak barrels until it develops a delicate acidity and silky texture. The Riesling grapes that go into each bottle are hand-selected from a family winery situated near the Rhine River in Germany, yielding a wine vinegar that’s much more complex and nuanced than other store brands, which often don’t hold the characteristics of their wine base. People often think of riesling as being crisp and light, but with age the bright stone fruit and citrus character concentrates down into flavors of honey and preserves, while still maintaining the minerally backbone. The golden liquid has an aroma similar to sweet fruit—floral apricots and pears in particular—along with a touch of elegant oakiness and a lingering finish. This vinegar is truly exceptional, with amazing depth and complexity that really set it apart from any white wine vinegar we’ve ever tried.

Elegant and herbal, this rose-colored vinegar made with Vermouth wine is delicately aromatic—with notes of lavender, basil, laurel, rosemary and thyme. It’s lightly sweet and incredibly complex, unlike most supermarket vinegars that just taste like generic red or white wine with no nuanced differences between each grape varietal. The taste of herbs as well as a jammy, berry-and-cherry-like flavor dances on the palate, while its fragrance is akin to an October garden, when the florals have dried and their scents have grown delicate. The vinegar’s complexity cane attributes not only to its Vermouth use but also the traditional technique by which it’s made that originated in the old vinegar houses of the Italian Alps.

We absolutely love this small-batch vinegar from French artisanal producer Huilerie Beaujolaise. With a bright and tangy vibrancy akin to tangerine, this vinegar almost tastes like a shrub, or drinking vinegar. Ubiquitous to Filipino cuisine, calamansi is a citrus hybrid between kumquat and mandarin orange.

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.