The 6 Best Balsamic Vinegars, Based On Taste Tests

If you’re seeking an easy way to dress up a salad or roast, a drizzle (or more) of balsamic vinegar might be the answer. The best balsamic vinegars have a gentle balance of sweetness and acidity, with a depth of flavor that reflects a long and careful aging process. After testing 13 popular bottles, from grocery store basics to high-end elixirs, I believe the best overall is the Villa Manodori Balsamic Vinegar for its complexity and versatility across a handful of applications.

In testing, here are the six bottles that earned the highest marks overall:

Traditionally made in the Italian provinces of Modena and Reggio Emilia, balsamic vinegar typically falls into one of three categories. The first and finest is DOP (short for Protected Designation of Origin), and bottles in this category tend to be thicker and taste less like vinegar and more like a woody, fruity elixir closer to a liqueur or fortified wine. While pricey, DOP vinegar is meant to be savored—not cooked with or muddled by too many other ingredients. (Only 10,000 liters of this category are produced each year.) The next category is IGP, or Protected Geographical Identification. Whereas DOP vinegars are most often made by small family producers, IGP bottles are produced in factories across Italy; they just need to be aged in the province of Modena for two months. Lastly, there is the not-controlled category of Condimento, which is often made by the smaller producers making DOP vinegar, without having to meet the DOP standards of aging and production. From DOP excellence to budget-friendly options, below are the best bottles (of all kinds) for whisking into vinaigrettes, drizzling over ice cream, cooking and more.

This bottle is elegant inside and out, with a long slender neck that looks beautiful on a shelf and a dark, rich, almost syrupy but well-balanced vinegar that’s equally suitable for drizzling atop a caprese salad or whisking into dressing. It comes from Italian chef Massimo Bottura, who is best known for Osteria Francescana, his three-Michelin-star restaurant in Modena, as well as his appearance on the TV Show Chef’s Table. I especially loved this vinegar drizzled over a bowl of vanilla ice cream—its caramel notes turned the simple scoop into an elegant dessert. That richness and complexity come from the aging process: This particular vinegar is aged for nine years in a series of wooden barrels made from oak, chestnut and juniper.

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This short bottle quickly proved the difference between a DOP vinegar and any other option. On first taste, it reminded me less of a vinegar and more of a bottle of sherry or another sort of fortified wine: thick but not superficially syrupy, with a complexity that gestured at red fruit and oak and age. It’s perfectly balanced—not too acidic nor sweet—and ideal for drizzling over toasted bread or a piece of simply cooked meat. While it’s the most expensive of the bunch at $79, it’s well-priced for a DOP balsamic. Plus, this isn’t a vinegar you’d want to use in large volumes: It’s best as a drizzle or a dash, or even as a very thoughtful hostess gift.

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This is the platonic ideal of a budget-friendly IGP balsamic. While it doesn’t have the rich complexity of a DOP, it hits all the notes I want from an under-$20 bottle. It’s thick but not overly syrupy, meaning you can splash it into a pan without too much vigilance; it lends itself well to a vinaigrette; and it’s balanced enough to stand on its own, drizzled over a bit of bruschetta or a bowl of risotto. That said, I probably wouldn’t want to pair this with super high-quality ingredients, like spring’s first asparagus or a really fine cheese. Instead, I’d keep it as an everyday vinegar to supplement with the good stuff when I really want a meal to shine.

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This grocery store option was far thinner than a DOP or anything trying to match that luscious viscosity, and its acid was too pronounced for drizzling or dipping. But when whisked into a simple vinaigrette (with olive oil, minced shallots, Dijon mustard and a tiny squeeze of honey), it turned into something elegant and versatile. The dressing I made with the Lucini balsamic was lighter than the others, still firmly tasting of balsamic but without any cloying sweetness; this is a vinegar that plays well when mixed with other ingredients. Its looseness (and sub-$20 price point) also made it great for splashing into a pan when deglazing or braising.

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Parmigiano Reggiano is a classic pairing for balsamic vinegar: Its aged lushness offers a great foil for balsamic’s brightness. In testing, I found that the Giuseppe Giusti Gran Deposito was the best balsamic vinegar to complement a simple cheese plate, thanks to its robust fruit flavor and bright acidity. It had a pronounced and lively zing to stand up to aged cheese (and of course a few slices of bread), but it didn’t overpower the plate. While this didn’t have the richness or complexity of the La Cà Dal Non or Villa Manodori bottles, I still found it to be a great addition to a snacking spread. Plus, it comes in a beautiful, giftable box.

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This California-made vinegar is a bit different from the others on this list: It’s made not just with grapes but also with California blackberries, offering a different fruit profile than more traditional balsamic vinegars. While it was a bit acidic for a simple drizzle, I loved it for deglazing a pan of onions or meat—that ever-so-subtle blackberry flavor added a gentle layer of fruitiness, while the acid was tamped down by a hot pan. I also found it made a nice dressing: The salt and oil turbocharged the vinegar’s juicy vibrance and made me think that this would be wonderful on a fruit-based salad.

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Other Balsamic Vinegars I Tested

Aside from the winning bottles, I tested an additional six balsamic vinegars:

Acetaia Leonardi Sigillo Argento Balsamic Vinegar: While this bottle had the gentle fruit of a light red wine, its acid was poorly balanced. Instead of richness and tannins filling out my palate, its acidity lingered, unwelcome, at the tip of my tongue for too long.