Wine and Vinegar Made in Same Place??!?

Is it a state or federal law that says that vinegar cannot be made in a winemaking facility? Doing research for a food publication.

Cheers!

Nope. I worked in a facility in Calistoga that was both a commercial winery and a commercial vinegar producer. I’ve used the same tanks for both. Acetobacter isn’t as hearty as you might think.

I was told that it was not legal to do this - but you say it is? Or was the place doing it without telling the TTB or ABC?

Thanks.

I went to a winery in Sebastopol that was using some of the red to make red wine vinegar, but they were not selling it. They were giving it away as a bonus gift from their private collection when you came in to buy other things. So maybe there was some sort of selling restriction?

It has been a while, but I don’t think things have changed. I can PM the name of the company and you can ask them questions if you’d like.

In Tuscany we went to a winery that had a cooking school across the driveway. They made great 30 year old balsamic vinegar in the cooking school. They were quite adamant that the vinegar shouldn’t be made in the winery, not for legal reasons but for concerns about contamination. If by the same place you mean in the winery, that seems to me risky whatever the legality. Since vinegar is not alcoholic neither the TTB nor ABC would have any jurisdiction.

Um scary! One local restaurant has a carboy of mother, every time I go he brings it out to show me as my skin crawls. It does make dam good dressing, though I always wash my hands after being there. I am a huge germaphobe at the winery but not in non winery life. I don’t have any live vinegar on the property for fear of cross contamination.

Yeast and bacteria are everywhere, including on the grapes. I think you can be a germaphobe and still manage to do native ferments and native ML. I imagine that controlling fruit flies is more important than keeping live vinegar out of the facility.

-Al