Giuseppe Giusti
In 1598 Cesare D’Este was forced by the Emperor to abandon his beloved capital Ferrara. He then transferred his residence to Modena, rendering it the Este Ducal capital until 1850. In order to have a regular bureaucracy with the ability to impose taxes, the Este soon registered all existing artisan and merchant guilds. It is the first official documentation of the Giusti family’s commercial activity, already well established in production and retail of typical Modenese products: lambrusco, “fine sausages,” and above all balsamic vinegar, already considered the specialty of the family business. From there begins the story of the oldest, most awarded, and most prestigious producer of balsamic vinegar of Modena
The story of the Giusti family is intertwined with the most important moments in the story of balsamic vinegar. In 1863, for a tradeshow in Modena (”Esposizione Agraria”), it was Giuseppe Giusti who first documented, after centuries of oral tradition, his golden rules in order to obtain a “perfect balsamic vinegar”: “choice of grapes, quality of vessels, and time.” It is the first existing documentation explaining how to produce balsamic vinegar, still known and widely quoted today as “The Giusti Recipe.”
The story of the Giusti family crosses a particularly intense period of the 19th and 20th centuries: “Belle-Epoque”, when in Europe the passion to travel and enjoy life explodes.
It is in this context that Giuseppe and Pietro Giusti transport the precious balsamic vinegar, pride of their gastronomy, to the tradeshows of Europe. The result is a unanimous success: in the space of only a few decades they collect many prestigious medals, of which 14 are gold, astonishing the people with 30, 50, and 100 year old vinegars. Giuseppe Giusti attends Paris in 1900, where below the highly contested Eiffel Tower, newly constructed especially for the celebrated “Exposition Universelle”, he wins a gold medal with a superb “90 year old Balsamic Vinegar”. It is in this period that the fame of the superior quality of the Giusti vinegars begins to cross international borders, a recognition remained unchanged today.
The fame of the great quality of Giusti Balsamic Vinegar became of interest to the King of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele III, who decides to name Giusti Official Supplier of Balsamic Vinegar of the King, bestowing in 1929 the privilege of exhibiting the Patent of the Royal family of Savoia.
The Gran Deposito (Great Reserve) of Giuseppe Giusti is renowned not only in Modena, but around the world as the largest antique collection of rare barrels, dating as far back as the 1500s. The reputable balsamic vinegar is extracted after years of ageing and mixing with vinegars made throughout the centuries in the oldest barrels, drawing aromas and flavors already created centuries before. Conscious of this, the Giusti family has throughout the centuries carefully maintained the collection in order to balance the delicate characteristics of the celebrated “Giusti bouquet of aromas.”
Proud of its story, Giusti produces today a Balsamic Vinegar of the highest quality, loyal to Giuseppe Giusti’s “golden rules”, continuing to satisfy connoisseurs and food lovers around the world. A brand of reference in its area of origin, Giusti produces and exports its famous and esteemed Balsamic vinegar through Avanti Savoia, with the mission to contribute, through this refined typical specialty, obtained with such care and passion, to the love of living and food passion, so grounded in Modenese tradition.
Today, Giusti continues to obtain recognitions for the superior quality of its Balsamic Vinegars, demonstrating the continuing search for quality which has remained during the centuries.
The last award, obtained in March 2006, is the prestigious Superior Taste Award granted by the International Taste & Quality Institute in Brussels, an independent organization of the European community sponsored by all the major European associations of sommeliers, cooks, and restaurants. The “Giusti Banda Rossa” was awarded the maximum score of three stars “for exceptional products with more than 90 percent of total marks.”
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