As the picnic blankets come out again, the chef's mind turns to the outdoor summer salad.
But how to truly impress your rule-of-six friends with a bowl of leaves and sliced cucumber?

The answer lies with the dressing, and specifically the vinegar. No longer that modest condiment languishing at the back of the larder, vinegar has had a gourmet makeover.

This season's must-have ingredient comes in ‘small batch' boutique ranges, aged in barrels, sold with tasting notes like a fine wine, and sometimes with prices to match.

‘People are increasingly fascinated by the fact vinegars can all taste completely different depending on the character of the alcohol that's gone into it — whether that's a 1995 Mersault, a vintage Champagne, Oloroso sherry or Ruby port,' says Devon-based Jonathan Brown, founder of Cult Vinegar.

Loved by chefs including Nadiya Hussain, Jamie Oliver and James Martin, the new vinegars aren't just for salads, mind you.

Drizzled onto pasta, stirred into cocktails and even poured over vanilla ice cream, there's an on-trend vinegar for every occasion and dish.

Angela Clutton, author of cookbook The Vinegar Cupboard, loves sprinkling a high-quality sweet wine vinegar, such as moscatel or champagne vinegar, on salmon, to cut through the fattiness of the fish.

She even adds vinegar to her gin and tonic instead of a slice of lemon.

‘I have a cucumber vinegar that I love, but you could use a dash of moscatel vinegar.

You'll never go back once you've tried it!' she says.

Sales of vinegar made in the UK have risen by 21 per cent in two years, according to a report in 2020; from 74,000 litres to almost 90,000, and they show no sign of slowing down.

Jonathan's Brown's cult vinegars, like many in this new wave, are ‘live', meaning they are unpasteurised and contain sediments of ‘the mother' — essentially the bacteria that helps ferment the alcohol into vinegar.

As you'd expect, artisan vinegars don't come cheap: Cult Vinegar is stocked at Selfridges and costs £12 for a tiny 50 ml bottle (£15 for the oaky 1995 vintage Mersault).

Here's our round-up of the best craft vinegars with which to dress and impress .

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SALTY SEAWEED TO GIVE VODKA A ZING

Orkney Craft Vinegar, a sugar kelp seaweed vinegar (£8.50, 250 ml, orkneycraftvinegar.com)

Staff at this boutique vinegar distillery, lauded by chefs Nick Nairn and James Martin, pick seaweed at low tide on the shores of Birsay, Orkney, to brew up their sugar kelp vinegar, which is raw, unpasteurised, unfiltered and ‘live'.

I wasn't sure how I would take to vinegar which tasted like a bracing, salty day at the seaside, but it's more delicate than you'd think and packs a punch of umami — that round, lip-smacking flavour.

DRIZZLE IT ON: It works well with seafood, summer vegetables, Caesar salad and in a dressing for potato salad.
Founder Sam Britten even recommends adding 20 ml to vodka and soda as an intriguing mixer. 5/5

ROSÉ TO PEP UP ROASTED VEG

Mussini Rosé wine vinegar (£9.95, 250ml, ocado.com)

Is it even possible for a vinegar to capture the exact colour and roundly fruity taste of a posh glass of rosé wine?

I was sceptical, but this thick, gloopy balsamic-based vinegar delivers a real sweet-and-sour punch.

It's made of grape must (the juice, skins, stems and seeds from crushed grapes) mixed with wine vinegar and calamansi orange puree.
The No. 12 on the label indicates the number of times the vinegar has been transferred annually from barrel to barrel, hence its mature, sweet taste.

DRIZZLE IT ON: You can use it as a salad dressing without oil or sprinkle it on roasted vegetables and in cocktails, too.

Surprisingly refreshing. 3/5

BLACK GARLIC BOOST FOR CHEESE BOARD

Burren balsamics, black garlic infused vinegar (£9, 250 ml, burrenbalsamics.com)

Based in Armagh, Northern Ireland, Susie Hamilton Stubber began making vinegar for a charity sale six years ago, and her award-winning range is now stocked at Harrods.

She imports balsamic vinegar from Modena, Italy, and infuses it with locally sourced garlic in small batches. It is then sealed by a vacuum, which extracts the oxygen, intensifying the flavour. The garlic is fermented for eight weeks, using traditional Chinese methods, and imparts only the subtlest taste of garlic.

DRIZZLE IT ON: Susie suggests adding 30 ml to a lasagne when you're cooking the onions and mince, or even sprinkling over cheese.

Or ‘some customers say they love just to drink it from the bottle,' she says. 5/5

MOSCATEL FOR MOREISH ICE CREAM

Belazu, Moscatel single varietal vinegar (£5.65, 250 ml, ocado.com)

The label promises ‘floral notes with the defined flavour of ripe pear' and they're not wrong.

It's made from the Moscatel grape, which is used for some of the finest dessert wines, and you could almost drink this out of the bottle, it's so sweet and honey-ish.

It's less powerful than a balsamic, but adds real depth of flavour to blander salads and cooked vegetable dishes such as asparagus or parsnips.

DRIZZLE IT ON: A chef friend promised that a dash on a bowl of strawberries would make them taste more strawberry-ish, and I'm now converted.

It was also strangely addictive on vanilla ice cream. 4/5

CHAMPAGNE FOR SPARKLING SEAFOOD

J.
le Blanc Champagne vinegar (£8.99, 500 ml, souschef.co.uk)

Established in 1878, J. le Blanc was making small batch, unfiltered oils and vinegars before it was trendy, and it's now run by a fourth generation of the family, in a tiny village in south Burgundy.

Each bottle has sediment at the bottom — the vinegar ‘mother'.

It's made from a mix of pinot gris and pinot meunier grapes; in France, it's prized for its sharp, clean taste, high acidity, yet mellow flavour.

DRIZZLE IT ON: Seafood or a tarragon chicken dish or use in dressings.
A spoonful of this, and you might never go back to cheap white wine vinegar: it's more complex with a rounder, warmer taste — and I swear you're left with the aftertaste of a fine champagne, which can't be bad. 3/5

MANDARIN FOR A BANGING COCKTAIL

Vinegar Shed, Mandarin vinegar (£15, 200ml, vinegarshed.com)

It's 20 years since Andy Harris bought his first vinegar crock in a French flea market, and he's been obsessed with the subject ever since, importing some of the world's finest (used by Jamie Oliver) as well as brewing up his own at his tiny West London HQ, aka the Vinegar Shed.

His award-winning mandarin vinegar, ‘live' and made with Sicilian mandarins macerated in white wine vinegar, was called ‘banging' by Nadiya Hussain.

Don't expect this fruit-infused creation to be sweet and cloying.

It's so sharp (6 per cent acidity) it's an initial shock to the system, but persevere: there's a moreish citrus tang.

DRIZZLE IT ON: Seafood salads or add it to chicken marinades. It's also amazing in a Shrub cocktail (a mixture of fruit, sugar and vinegar).
4/5

SYRUPY SWEET TO DRINK NEAT

Gocce ‘15 travasi' Balsamic Vinegar of Modena (£26.95, 250 ml, harveynichols.com)

Well, this rather blew my £1 Tesco balsamic out of the water.

The 15-year-old vinegar is so syrupy and viscous it's almost reluctant to be poured. I expected overwhelming sticky sweetness but there's a subtle balance of wine, woodiness and lip-smacking roundness. No wonder Gocce suggests you drink a tot after a meal to settle your stomach.

I don't know whether I'd spend £26.95 on a vinegar, no matter how wonderful, but I might try the ‘6 travasi' (£12.95, harvey nichols.com).

DRIZZLE IT ON: It's so expensive it would be wasted in cooking, but a splash before serving really lifted my tomato and ricotta pasta out of the ordinary. 3/5

SHERRY FOR DIPPING BREAD INTO

Cult Vinegar PX Sherry vinegar (£12, 50ml, cultvinegar.co.uk)

The most garlanded of Jonathan Brown's collection (two stars at the 2020 Great Taste Awards); it's made with Pedro Ximenez (PX) sweet sherry — and that's the exact woody, raisin aroma you get.

It's not a sweet vinegar by any means, but the initial sharp burst of acidity gives way to the familiar oaky, dried-fruit taste of your dad's favourite sherry.

DRIZZLE IT ON: At this price, you won't be cooking onions in it.

It's more of a ‘finishing' vinegar, hence its cute pipette and tiny medicine-style bottle.

Jonathan suggests a squirt livens up a gazpacho or a tomato salad or ice cream. I dipped chunks of my husband's sourdough bread into it and accidentally got through half the loaf — and that was the end of my low-carb diet.

But it was worth it.

I'd also recommend the Ruby Port vinegar (£12), which gives red meat sauces a lift and is great with blue cheese. 5/5