Red Wine Vinegar
I started making vinegar in 2016, and over the years have settled on a standard process: red wine is added to vinegar mother left from the previous batch, aerated, left in a glass jar covered in cheesecloth to allow airflow, and tasted after a few months. Often I rest it on toasted oak cubes in another jar for a few more months (more flexible for small batches than resting in an actual barrel), then filter and let it rest for 1-2 years. I didn’t age the first few batches, but now that I have a ‘production pipeline’, I always have a mix of new and old batches available, and I’ve found that it mellows over a year.