Making Vinegar

I recently splurged on a bottle of O Cabernet Vinegar and boy, it was good. I used it in a blue cheese dressing recipe and man...you could really tell it was quality stuff. It was so good that I used it all up pretty quickly. It was then that I decided that I would FINALLY ACTUALLY do something that I have been wanting to do for a while now: make some vinegar.

One of the benefits of Jeff being a winemaker is that we have a ton of wine hanging around. I am sure our neighbors think we are total boozers when they see our glass container on recycling day. In addition to the cases that we get as part of the terms of his employment, there always seems to be bits flowing in from bottling, or topping, or whatever else it is that he does. Just the other day he came home with these three bottles, each of them opened and partly consumed. I have no idea why, or what they were for, but they were definitely on their way out, already starting to smell like vinegar.

The "How to Make Vinegar from Leftover Wine" article from gangofpour.com gave me the final boost of inspirational motivation so I went to the local homebrew store and picked up a Red Wine Mother, which is the starter for the vinegar process (somewhat like a sourdough starter) and a three gallon carboy. I am so excited. If this experiment goes well I have already decided that I am going to try a Rosé Champagne (or Cava, Prosceco, or Sparkling Wine) vinegar, since Rosé Sparklers are my favorite. Let the vinegar making commence!

P.S. We named the kitty LuLu.