CHARDONNAY VINEGAR 6% POURET

he Chardonnay Vinegar from Martin Pouret has a slight buttery flavor that is wonderful with fish and chicken entrees or salads featuring them. Martin Pouret produces several interesting white wine vinegars, and this is made form a good quality pure chardonnay wine which gives it the buttery backbone in flavor. 8.5 oz bottleThe Orleans process, named for the French port city on the Loire River where it originated, is an authentic, time-honored method that produces complex flavorful vinegars. The wine is slowly and naturally aged in oak barrels for one to three months without heat, until a mass of bacteria known as the "mother" forms on the surface. The fermentation process is then allowed to continue (at least one year) until all the alcohol has been converted to acetic acid.In contrast, commercially processed vinegar is made in large-capacity stainless-steel tanks in which a giant spindle agitates the liquid, aerating it for a speedy fermentation period of around twenty-four hours. The resulting vinegar may be aged for an additional few months, but in tanks holding several thousand gallons, rather than in wood barrels holding fifty gallons in the traditional way. Barrel-aged wine vinegars usually have 6% acidity -- the higher the acidity the better the vinegar -- whereas common vinegars generally have 4 to 5% acidity.