After a year researching and writing the Zingerman's Guide to Good Vinegar, this was the best affordable red wine vinegar I tried on that months-long acid(ic) trip. It's excellent, versatile and affordable enough for your everyday eating, marinating and who-knows-whatting.

Light-red Rioja wine from northern Spain is naturally converted then moved into old oak barrels, where it spends a solid two years mellowing, intensifying and developing a deep flavor hinting of raspberries, red grapes and oak.

Use it for salads, for splashing on summer ripe tomatoes, for deglazing pans or whenever a recipe calls for "red wine vinegar."