Red Wine Vinegar

Ingredients:  One, left over bottle of quality Red wine with alcohol content between 10-12 percent.

Price:  Betweeen $15-$20

It's worth the trouble if you have more than 1/4 of your wine left.

  Good wine makes great Vinegar.  Ever find yourself with left over wine in a bottle you just opened but couldn't finish?  This is a very general explanation. It is simple but still takes some degree of experience. Not sure why people choose to either place it in the back of the cabinet and forget about it, or they just pour it out.  Why? This is a nice idea for those of you who just don't plan on drinking it the next day.  In my case, we had opened up some rather expensive bottles of Turley that had already spoiled in storage. We carefully opened each bottle in the hope we would find one to drink.  We had some left in the second bottle  and decided to loosely cover it and place it in a cool, dry place. After 30 days, we checked it.  It was not sweet enough and it was decided it needed more time.  A week later it was ready.  

1.  Please make sure you are using a good bottle of quality red wine with alcohol content 10-12 percent.   It doesn't have to cost a fortune, but will not work with inexpensive varieties due to the additives  as they are processed for a mass market.   My rule of thumb is if you have spent more than 20 dollars on your bottle of red, and it's good enough to drink, well then, why pour away the leftover?

2.  Leave your  Red wine loosely covered in a cool dry place. Air must continue to be able to enter freely in order for your wine to turn into vinegar.  Here is some more information. 

http://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2008-12/making-vinegar-home

Special Note:  There are several ways to make vinegar at home in larger quantities.  This method only utilizes one  (left over in the original bottle), wine bottle at a time.  The advantage here is if you opened a costly bottle of Chianti, you will eventually have a rather expensive and delicious smaller bottle of Chianti vinegar. If you tried to buy Chianti vinegar, it would be quite costly to find.  You can continue to use it until finished.  Enjoy and Buon Appetito.