Our vinegar-maker has worked in the wine industry 25+ years, and has witnessed the production of many memorable wines, but not so many memorable wine vinegars. The inspiration to make some truly delicious wine vinegars came after a trip to California, to the Napa Valley/Sonoma wine region. Varietal wine vinegars are highly prized and sought after there and it’s not hard to understand why. Once you taste our aromatic varietal wine vinegar with the complexity and character of the very wine that it’s made from you will NEVER want to use any other vinegar again!
Our varietal wine vinegar is made by the Orleans Method of production using only Good quality wine,after inoculating our wine with our very special vinegar “mother”, we leave nature to run it’s course, (adding of course, a lot of time and a little “nurturing” on our part).
Here in New Zealand, a country renown for it’s premium wines, the team at “Two Fat Birds” believe that we can produce some of the world’s best varietal wine vinegars. We hope that they will grace the shelves of your pantry soon.
“Bon Apetit”
Our new project planned for vintage 2009 is to create a range of delicious Ver Jus – an excellent substitute for vinegar as the acidity is lighter, with fresh vibrant grape flavours, and absolutely no alcohol. Our aim is to create a truly seasonal, limited range of hand-picked varietal Ver jus.
The Orleans technique (vinaigre d’Orleans)for creating wine vinegars dates back to around 500 years ago, originating in Orleans, France. Orleans became the center of trade and production of vinegar in France in 1580 when merchants were officially announced as a profession by Henri IV. This method involves naturally letting the ‘mother’ convert the wine to vinegar in oak barrels over a number of months. This method creates a vinegar that has fresh vibrant acidity, no bitterness, with a perfumed nose and varietal characteristics.
Commercial wine vinegars are made within 24 hours by brewing red or white wine with beechwood shavings that have been soaked in vinegar. This quick method of creating vinegar (called the ‘German method’) gives a pungent, unperfumed product often with harsh acidity and bitterness. They are often diluted to at least 6% -the minimum amount of acidity needed to sell a vinegar.*
*Reference: ‘Larousse Gastronomique’, The Gastronomic Committee, Octopus Publishing Group Ltd 2001.
Our Two Fat Birds:
Kereru (NZ wood pigeon)
Inspired by the beautiful native NZ wood pigeons (Kereru), that are always present when the cabbage trees have berries, in the garden, they have become our mascots for our first NZ Cabernet Sauvignon red wine vinegar. kereruKereru are large birds growing o about 55cm in length and 650-800gm in weight. They can be found throughout New Zealand and are also found in Norfolk Island. They primarily eat fruit and leaves from native trees, their favourite leaves being from plum trees. Despite their size, they often build twiggy, flimsy nests. They lay a single egg at a time with an incubation period of 28 days. In a good season with plenty of fruit, they can lay up to 4 eggs. There are only two surviving subspecies of Kereru – the Mainland H. n. novaseelandiae and the Chatham Island H. n. chathamensis. The main threats to these birds come from the introduction of rats and possums (either from killing the eggs/chicks or by stripping the Kereru’s food supply) and also from hunting. In 1921 there was a total ban of hunting Kereru, although there were certain Iwi claiming their cultural/traditional right to continue to hunt them for food.
