My wife and I heard about the Acetaia Malagoli Daniele from the online pasta guru Meryl Feinstein. She spoke fondly of having taken a pasta making class years ago from Barbara. We are so glad we did. The acetaia is truly a family run business: Daniele - Father and namesake; Barbara - Wife and vinegar master; Sofia - eldest daughter and mastermind of this venture; Taisia - youngest daughter, stepping into a more prominent role in running the B&B.
We spent two fascinating days with them at their B&B. The room was recently remodeled, large, with a modern bathroom and the most comfortable bed of our trip. We started the festivities with an early morning tour of a nearby Parmigiano Reggiano cheese factory/farm - another family owned and operated business. They do it all there, from raising and milking the cows to turning the milk into cheese and then ageing it to perfection. It finished with a cheese tasting, which began with some fresh ricotta, delicious with some balsamico on it, like nothing you can buy in a store here. Then on to the main act, tasting the parmigiano of different ages. In all, a pleasing and interesting tour, especially if you like this cheese as much as we do.
We were on our own for lunch so we went to Castelfranco, the nearest town to the acetaia. Had a lovely lunch at La Lumira and Sofia met us there afterwards. Our guide for the afternoon was Elena who also met us there. However, there was a small glitch. They could not find a driver for the afternoon tour. Turns out that there was some big event in nearby Bologna that had drawn all of the drivers away. So what to do? Elena was in the car with her dad, Francesco, who had driven her there to drop her off. Sofia spoke with him briefly and, voilà, he became our driver for the afternoon. (As an aside, if you want your vacation to run like a Swiss watch, go to Switzerland not to Italy. In Italy things do not necessarily go like clockwork. And when problems arise it seems that they are often solved like ours was, by family, friends and connections. Rather than being a negative though, it is part of the charm of Italian culture. So it helps to be flexible) In fact, this happy accident actually made the afternoon more enjoyable. It felt more like a family outing than a paid professional tour.
The four of us took off in Francesco's car to the Casa Museo Luciano Pavarotti. This is the house Pavarotti had built just outside of Modena. It was a cheery and colorful place and Elena, a big fan of the maestro, was the perfect guide. From there we drove into the hills around the municipality of Giulia for a winery tour and tasting at Terraquilia. Once there we met Giulia and (another) Francesco. Giulia prepared a tasting with assorted local meats and cheeses while Francesco took us on an in depth tour of the property. We then tasted and munched on the goodies Giulia had made. We, of course, ended up buying a case and a half of wine, the shipping of which they were happy to take care of. We got back to the B&B around 7pm tired and happy after our jam-packed day.
The next morning we had a leisurely breakfast prepared by Barbara. We then began a pasta making class taught by Tiasia. We made tortellini and tortelloni and it was all great fun. Next, we went up to the attic with Alessia, into the acetaia itself. Here were the many barrels of balsamic vinegar undergoing the slow ageing process. She took us through the whole fascinating process and answered all of our questions. We then came back downstairs for a tasting of l'oro nero di Modena. (The black gold of Modena, and also the title of the book Sofia wrote on the subject) If you've never tasted real DOP balsamico aged 25 years or more, you need to! After purchasing some for them to ship home for us we went back to the dining room where we feasted on the pasta we had made earlier. Taisia had prepared it in the traditional manner, and along with the best bottle of Lambrusco I've ever tasted, (not the cheap sweet version we typically see here) it was a delicious way to end the day.
The next morning it was time to leave. We had breakfast and talked to Barbara, who is, we had learned, the only person who touches the vinegar. She does all of the filling, tasting and testing. She told us there are some days she spends up to 15 hours in the acetaia. Clearly, it is a labor of love and tradition and she is rightfully proud of the fine product they produce.
We couldn't have been happier with the time we spent at the acetaia and my wife and I both consider it to be the highlight of our three weeks in France and Italy.