White wine vinegar

White Wine Vinegar. Clear acidity, two years in oak, the standard for salads.

White Wine Vinegar from Riegersburg: light, clear, and made from white grapes, with 6 percent acidity and aged for at least two years in oak. No fruit vinegar, no sweet balsamic vinegar, no vinegar with added flavorings.

White Wine Vinegar is a classic wine vinegar from the Gölles family, made from white grapes and aged in wood for a long time before bottling. Compared to apple cider vinegar, it deliberately lacks fruit sweetness. Compared to a white wine vinegar from the supermarket, it lacks the biting sharpness. What remains is a clear, pure acidity that brings a salad to life without overpowering it.

Fungi, light, and straightforward in flavor

The white wine vinegar tastes light and clear, with a mild acidity of 6 percent that leans toward fruit. Gölles describes the aroma as evoking a deep wine cellar, mushrooms, and porcini. Beneath that come honeydew melon and a hint of Hokkaido pumpkin.

On the palate, it is pure and straightforward. The two years in the barrel have rounded off the acidity, so that it supports rather than burns. Wood aromas hardly emerge, and the vinegar remains light in color.

Anyone looking for a vinegar that rounds out a dressing through sweetness alone will find it too austere. For this purpose, the sweet-tart light balsamic vinegar is better suited. It is also not intended for drizzling over cheese or desserts.

Cabbage salad, sausage salad, and everything for pickling

White wine vinegar is the all-purpose vinegar for leaf salads, cabbage salad, cucumber salad, sausage salad, and French dressing. With 6 percent acidity, use it sparingly in leaf salads at first and taste as you go. Cabbage salad can take more, because finely sliced cabbage only becomes tender and juicy with plenty of acidity.

A sausage salad with Vienna sausage, red onions, and chives gets a marinade of three tablespoons of vinegar, two tablespoons of rapeseed oil, salt, and pepper. Vienna sausage is a fine boiled sausage from Austria, similar to Lyon sausage. Mix a French dressing from one part vinegar, three parts oil, and one teaspoon of mustard.

From experience: It is the right choice for pickling zucchini, peppers, or pearl onions. Clear acidity without fruit sweetness does not distort the aroma of the vegetables. It harmonizes well with pumpkin seed oil, poppyseed oil, and white grapeseed oil.

From wine to vinegar, then two years of patience

It begins with wine, or alcohol, which the vinegar bacteria convert into acetic acid. In the past, people spoke of the mother of vinegar, a gelatinous layer of these bacteria. Technically, they are bacteria of the genus Acetobacter, which only work with sufficient air. They need warmth and plenty of oxygen; neither sulfites nor flavorings are added.

Then comes the step that takes time: at least two years in an oak barrel. During this time, the barrel is blocked, an investment that cannot be cut short. Vinegar bottled earlier would be sharper in flavor and less versatile.

In older documents, Gölles lists Grüner Veltliner, Austria's most widely grown white grape variety, as the base. On the current product page, it generally refers to white grapes. If some cloudiness settles at the bottom of the bottle over time, that is normal for this natural vinegar.

A classic of Austrian cuisine

What sets white wine vinegar apart is its unpretentiousness: It is the standard by which other vinegars are measured. In Austria, a light wine vinegar has been part of cucumber salad, cabbage salad, and beef marinade for decades. This bottle fulfills exactly this role, only with more composure in its acidity.

The salad becomes Styrian when a few spoonfuls of pumpkin seed oil are added instead of rapeseed oil. The dark oil and the light acidity then create the typical picture on the plate, glossy and bold in flavor.

The 500-ml bottle is intended for daily use, close at hand next to oil and salt. Anyone looking for a bold vinegar for stews in addition to the light one should complement it with the barrel-aged vinegar from red grapes.

A wine vinegar without frills, used every day, and therefore it must be good.