Seven awards, two souls: The Manicardi Vinegar Cellar and Winery at the WineHunter Award 2026

There is a moment, every year, when twelve months of work ends up on a tasting table in front of those who taste wine and vinegar for a living, uncompromisingly. This year, that table had a specific name: The WineHunter Award, the recognition created by Helmuth Koecher which, from the Merano WineFestival, selects each season the most compelling food and wine productions on the Italian and European scene.

For our company, the 2026 season closes with seven diplomas. It is not a number we are interested in flaunting for its own sake: it interests us because it tells the story of two worlds that have always coexisted at Manicardi—the vinegar cellar and the winery—and which this year were recognized together, with the same seriousness of judgment.

The vinegar cellar: from Platinum Candidate to Gold and Red Diplomas

The highest result bears the signature of our Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena DOP Extravecchio, which obtained the nomination of Platinum Candidate. Those who know the Tradizionale know what this means: here we are not talking about recipes, but about time. Years of transfers from barrel to barrel, of different woods yielding character and complexity to the cooked must, of a vinegar cellar that must be listened to more than governed. Reaching the Platinum level means that such patience, in the end, is felt in the glass.

Alongside this achievement, two Gold Diplomas (score 93-95.9) for the IGP line: Aceto Balsamico di Modena IGP L’Or Nouveau, younger and designed for those seeking freshness and balance in daily use, and Aceto Balsamico di Modena IGP Riserva Etichetta Nera, the more structured version, where the density of the product suggests a longer maturation and a deeper aromatic profile.

Closing the vinegar cellar’s results is the Red Diploma (90-92.9) for Aceto Balsamico di Modena IGP Nero Elisir Bio, our organic product: confirmation that the choice to produce without compromise on the environmental front does not come at the expense of quality; on the contrary.

The winery: Pignoletto, Fabula Rosè and Vigna Cà del Fiore

The other half of the recognition tells the story of our winemaking soul, three very different wines that together represent the territory in which we work.

The 2025 Emilia-Romagna Pignoletto DOC obtained the Red Diploma: a white wine that we know well here in the area, but which deserves to be talked about more often outside regional borders, for its drinkability and for that slightly aromatic note that makes it versatile at the table.

The same recognition was awarded to the 2025 Fabula Rosè Brut, our rosé sparkling wine, created to accompany convivial moments without ever being predictable, and to the 2025 Vigna Cà Del Fiore Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro Classico DOC, an identity-defining expression of our territory.

Three wines, three styles, one single common thread: care in the vineyard even before the cellar.

Taste it to believe it

The diplomas remain hanging in the vinegar cellar and in the winery, but the true meaning of these awards is measured in the glass and on the spoon, not on paper. If you wish to see for yourself what lies behind a Platinum Candidate or a Gold Diploma, the award-winning products are available in our online shop, or, if you prefer to see the barrels and vineyards up close, we look forward to welcoming you to the vinegar cellar and winery, where we are happy to share, over a tasting, everything that a diploma alone cannot say.