Acetaia Meloria, where the casks have been murmuring since 1903.

It is not a plant: it is the loft behind the family villa, in Casinalbo di Formigine. The balsamic has been resting there for four generations, with the seasons coming in through the windows.

Meloria was a grandmother's name.

She racked cooked must into the casks in the family attic. Nobody has moved them since: the same battery, the same house, the same slowness.

Today the children and grandchildren run the acetaia. We make about two thousand bottles a year: what the barrels allow, not what the market asks for.

Want to come up to the attic? Write to us.

An hour among the batteries, with a tasting of the Affinato and the Extravecchio at the end: €15 per person, by appointment. Or a question about the barrels, the must, the years: the family answers directly.