Making Homemade Red Wine Vinegar

A couple of months ago I came across an article about making red wine vinegar yourself. At least that is how I think I got down this rabbit hole.

You know how that goes? You see something, somewhere, on the interwebs, make a mental note of it, forget where you saw it or what you were originally searching for, have to go searching again. Find it, or maybe not – but something else…It’s like thinking of something and then walking into another room to do it but forgetting what you were there for in the first place. But on the internet, and in a giant infinite loop.

Actually, for all I know I may have come across this pretty pottery crock just for making said vinegar and then been dragged down the hole searching for a recipe. Who knows?

Either way, a couple of months later here I am with my first batch of oh-so-superior-to-store-bought red wine vinegar! Minus the pretty crock. Despite how lovely this one is I am struggling with having to pay an additional 35% or so for the exchange on the US dollar and then the shipping on top of that. I’m working on finding a local potter that can make me one from good old Canadian dollars and mud.

Honestly, the toughest parts of this recipe are 1) having leftover wine to make it with (what???is??? that???) and 2) figuring out if that little layer of something floating on the top is actually a beneficial and desirable mother culture, or something gross and scary.

This is what I ended up with and the vinegar is pretty spectacular so I’m guessing that when they speak of ‘mother of vinegar’, this is the real deal.

That’s what you need to begin your vinegar adventure, a mother, which is like a bacterial starter culture for vinegar. Since I couldn’t find a wine making shop that had any idea what I was looking for, even though most of the recipes I found told me that they would, I had to rely on a mother from some good quality live apple cider vinegar to get me started. Again, I found some online US suppliers but dollar+shipping=try something else first.

This little thin film certainly wasn’t nearly as convincing as a kombucha SCOBY, which is unmistakeable but it seems it is enough.

Oh, and I had to buy a cheap bottle of red. I used 2 Cups of an $8 bottle of California Malbec to get me started. I figured I should probably use a type of wine that I like to drink and for the most part I find Malbec to be pretty consistently decent, even at a lower price point (maybe not quite this low). After that initial bottle it’s been a mixed breed though. I simply had to intentionally steal portions from bottles that were already open and those aren’t always Malbec. Don’t tell anyone.

Either way this turned out really great. It definitely smells and tastes of vinegar but it is so much more wine like than my store-bought version. It is delicious. Side by side they are incomparable.

The process took a couple of months – maybe two – I haven’t properly paid attention. Since I started at the end of the summer I was really surprised that the fruit flies were kept out by just placing my mason jar (decidedly not as pretty as the crock) in a closed cupboard with a coffee filter over it.

Warm, dark and covered are all requirements along with a decent sized jar. I used a 1L mason jar but wish I had a bigger one. Obviously I neeeeed a crock.

Here are the instructions:

• Get a crock. Ok, if you can’t do that then a good sized mason jar will work, at least until you try this vinegar and realize that you are going to go through a lot of it. Clean your jar well.
• Add 1/2 C of apple cider vinegar to your jar. You must use one that states that it contains the ‘mother’. If you can find a supplier for Mother of Vinegar that would be ideal, but this works.
• Add 2 C red wine and I C of filtered water. I did not filter mine, I just used my clean well water. I suspect that if you are on chlorinated water you’d want to use filtered.
• Cover with a coffee filter or a few layers of cheesecloth and secure tightly with a rubber band. Place the jar into a warm dark location for about 2 weeks. Inside a kitchen cabinet worked for me. Close enough that when I opened the door I could smell what was going on so I wouldn’t forget about it.
• Top up with red wine in instalments, about every 2 weeks. The recipe that I was loosely using called for 2 1/2 C at a time but clearly my little mason jar wasn’t big enough for that so I just added wine every few weeks to top it up.
• Soon, it should begin to smell like vinegar and a thin layer of mother should form. This layer will sink to the bottom if disturbed so you can try adding your additional wine with a turkey baster. I didn’t. I just carefully added wine. If your wine begins to smell bad, like varsol, wash your jar and start over.
• In about 10-12 weeks you should have something that pretty definitely tastes like red wine vinegar, but better.
• You can pour off about 1-2 Cups of your vinegar into another jar to start a new batch and strain the remaining vinegar into a bottle where it will continue to get better with age
• If you plan on keeping it longer than 4 months apparently it is best to boil it for 30 minutes at a consistent 155° before bottling. I know that mine won’t last that long!