It was thrilling to meet Pilar Rovera at a chamber of commerce function in Barcelona in the spring of 2003. There she sat showing (mostly to no avail) her Mas d'en Gil wine from Priorat. Prioat the new, cool, [expensive] wine region in Catalonia ... is famous for its huge, voluptuous, big fruit exotic reds made from carignan and grenache grapes. There were several much larger importers there, but I think that she got missed by many of the food importers because they were not looking to a wine property to produce vinegar. Food. But for vinegar, I sure think that there is no better to place to start than at the wine source. And I understood just what she had & Artisan red wine vinegar made with the wine of Priorat. And here is the story. The family's business is started in bulk wines and she, her sisters and father all work in the business. When an established but neglected property in priorate came on the market, they snapped it up. The Mas d'en Gil is about 300 hector planted into almost 45 different parcels. The wine production facility has been updated but many of the original buildings retain their charm, many of the vines are old, the soil is austere, the geography hilly and the altitude high enough to make it a little stressful: conditions said to make more complex wines.

The Agredolç de Vi is fantastic and has none of those pretenses of being a balsamic... although "condiment" might be a better word than vinegar, I use it as vinegar. It is a 3° product made by their enologist from 40-year-old mother that they found on the property when they bought the "masia" in what was sort of an out-building.

The package is quite dramatic and the quality and versatility of this voluptuous condiment/vinegar is poetic: as figs come into the market why not take a few and liquefy them with some the Mas d'en Gil Agredolç 3° and salt, then marinate duck legs and thighs for the grill, serve it on couscous, and smirk at your secret weapon when the compliments come piling in. And give some further bounty of Catalonia a try in the form of red wine like a Proirate or Capçanes.

This is how we want our vinegar made: by the winemaker out of good wine: novel concept... Hope it catches on.