Produced from hand-picked apples, not the low-grade and windfall apples most companies use, and aged in oak barrels for two years before bottling, Little Apple Treats cider is bright and sharp, with a bold apple flavor and subtle caramel tones contributed by the barrel aging. This is the best American apple cider vinegar we’ve tasted, every bit on par with the fancy, expensive French stuff from Normandy.

Made from only two ingredients—organic rice and water from the mountains of Northern Hiroshima—this organic rice vinegar is a cut above standard supermarket varieties. Slightly sweeter, with a rounder flavor and more umami notes than most rice vinegars, its subtle acidity offers a much more balanced outcome, so no bitterness or harshness comes through. Sennari, a brewery established in Japan in 1927, uses a traditional static fermentation process to produce their vinegars. Koji, a natural fermentation culture, is combined with steamed organic rice and nearby mountain water featuring a soft PH of 7. The combination ferments and develops naturally over the course of six months, resulting in a rice vinegar with a more mild acidity and elevated taste. Conventional mass produced vinegar is usually made in just one week using an automatic fermentation method, the result of which we found lacking in taste.

This infused balsamic vinegar gets its earthy flavor and aroma from real Périgord black truffles, not artificial flavoring, for nuanced truffle notes that don’t overpower. Like all good balsamics from Modena, the balsamic capital of the world, the vinegar has a pleasant acidity and beautiful raisiny aroma—but 18 years of barrel aging gives it a rounded complexity and luxurious viscosity, achieved without any thickeners or preservatives. Save this extra-special vinegar as a finishing touch: It’s delightful for dipping or drizzling over bread, burrata, roasted vegetables or fruit, steak or caprese salad. (It makes a fabulous gift, too.)

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.

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.

Made from 100 percent black grenache—or “garnatxa” in Catalan—grapes, this red wine vinegar from winemakers Espelt Viticultors has more depth and character than other vinegars we’ve tried. Because it’s made with a single varietal of grape, it gets more dimension than vinegars made from blends, as well as a balanced acidity. This one has a real sense of place: the rocky, minerally terroir and salty sea spray that make beautiful wines on the northeastern coast of Spain also flavor this rich, lush vinegar. Thanks to a 12-month aging process in French oak barrels, the tangy vinegar boasts notes of blackberry, vanilla and licorice on the nose, finishing with a toasted, plummy sweetness.

This white balsamic from Acetaia Leonardi is aged for eight years in oak barrels, so its flavor is exceptionally smooth and rounded. We like its honeyed fruit undertones and full-bodied consistency, which comes from the aging process and is a key indicator of a vinegar's quality. The family producer has been making vinegar since 1871 and is one of the last in Modena, Italy, to grow the same grapes that they use to make their vinegar. Try using this vinegar for brightness in our White Balsamic and Tarragon Chicken or Belgian Mashed Potatoes with Winter Vegetables (Stoemp); it will sharpen flavors and add dimension without calling too much attention to itself the way other vinegars do. Or drizzling it over roasted vegetables, such as in our Roasted Carrots with Balsamic Raisins and Pine Nuts or Slow-Roasted Tomatoes. We like to use a couple tablespoons to deglaze the pan after roasting meats, scraping up the browned bits and finishing with butter. White balsamic vinegar even plays a key role in our Harissa, for a mild acidity as a counterpoint for the earthy spices in the hot pepper paste.

Described by our kitchen staff as tasting like “wine-soaked chocolate covered cherries,” Villa Manodori’s Dark Cherry Balsamic Vinegar of Modena IGP is thick, rich and luxurious. Led by 3-Michelin Star chef, Massimo Bottura, the Italian brand makes their authentic Modena balsamic using wooden barrels and juicy trebbiano wine grapes. In this rendition, the dark cherry balsamic gets its sweet, fruity flavor profile from aging in prized Vignola cherry wood barrels for nine years, which impart notes of the tangy, indulgent fruit in the vinegar. Its thick, viscous consistency and full-bodied flavor make it the perfect candidate for finishing and glazing. It pairs well with game, pork or duck, drizzled over soups, salads and roasted vegetables, or even atop ice cream and cakes.

Malty, rich and dark, this bold vinegar is made from craft porter beer from a Massachusetts microbrewery. The dark beer gives it a balanced acidity and a smooth, warm finish. Though the flavor is unique, we like this vinegar enough to use it as an everyday staple; try it with fish and chips, cruciferous vegetables or as a final touch for cream-based sauces. Like all of American Vinegar Works’ products, every bottle begins with American-made craft alcohol, slow-fermented using traditional methods from the 1800s for a deeply complex, bold flavor.

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.

Made in France with high-quality naturally fermented white wine vinegar, this tarragon-infused vinegar from Delouis has a clean flavor that’s not too astringent. Common in French cooking—and most known for its use in classic French sauces like Béarnaise—tarragon is a powerful herb in the culinary arsenal. We love how tarragon-forward this vinegar is, with strong notes of the subtly bitter, sweet and floral herb and slight anise flavor with a touch of vanilla. It’s a perfect addition to finish vinaigrettes, salad dressings and sauces.

Ubiquitous Chinese black vinegar is rich, tart and slightly sweet—with a fermented malty taste and woody character that distinguishes it from the light-colored and fruity rice vinegar. This one is crafted by one of the oldest and most well-known producers in the country, who ages the dark liquid for 6 years in traditional urns to achieve its complexity. It’s not too astringent, with a full-bodied character that yields nuanced notes of molasses and something like the brightness of a high-quality bar of dark chocolate, nothing like the other black vinegars we sampled that weren’t given time to age. A pantry staple in Chinese and Taiwanese cuisine, black vinegar contributes a unique flavor to food that (despite what you might read online), can’t be replicated with other dark vinegars like fruity balsamic.