Maine, like many other nor'eastern states, as far as I know has no Kroger. We have to deal with a limited amount of local chain stores here, Stop & Shop, and Shaws. The S&S here doesn't even offer frozen grapefuit juice, or even popular Dole pineapple juice in a frozen concentrate. About the only other big stores we have are Market Basket, which is also a small chain. The product distributors they use are not as well stocked with varied choices. Then, there is Walmart, but a super store Walmart is 60 miles away, and the only other source for a few items not seen in our area. About all you can do is check web sites for the markets and see if they list, or can get wine vinegar. Sometimes they can, but most times they are just too lazy to deal with a single item. Its not likethe 'mom and pops' stores from yesteryear, where you placed your orders (everything) long ahead of time and they show up weeks and months later, provided they can be found by the store owners. Be sure that the wine vinegar is 5% acidity, anything less, may cause spoilage or illness if its on the low side.

There are many fine fruity wines made with plain fruit - and that is something I hope to learn as soon as my wine grapes mature a bit more. They were planted about 3 years ago, and this year they have 5 or 6 nice bunches, but, hopefully, by next year or 2, they will produce to make the effort worthwhile. Anyway, for the purpose of inviting meaningful thought here - I offer the following: Some nice vinegars can be made at home very simply. I take the left overs from different bottled wines - add a "mother of vinegar" culture, and let time do the rest. It usually takes about 3 or 4 months for the wine to "turn" and it apparently will become stronger with longer. I purchased this vinegar culture on-line, and still have the remnant in a saved jar for further use - hopefully, still viable. It needs feeding from time to time - add more wine. From my thinking, I would take some chardonnay, add the culture and when finished, bring the vinegar just to a boil (to stop ferment) then pour this over some fully ripe peaches in a bottle, and allowed to mature. When it is finished to your taste, strain out the peaches and use on your favorite recipe. The vinegar should preserve quite well. Note for Linda Lou - do you think the finished product needs further finishing/processing for safety? Just my 2 c's. Bejay

Thanks for the responses. Grainlady, that is an interesting looking site! I am definitely bookmarking it. Lars, when I 'Googled' the difference between rice vinegar And rice wine vinegar, I found about half the sites say they are the same, And half say they are different because they are prepared differently. So which to believe? ?? As the general consensus of ya'll here seems to be they are interchangeable, I'll not worry about finding the rice wine vinegar. I do have a rice vinegar that I like so will stick with that. And my white grape wine vinegar. Teresa_mn, if you only knew! :>) There is a LOT my 'neck of the woods' doesn't have! The 2 grocery stores do now have an Asian section. Sort of. Not much of a variety of items, though. And no rice wine vinegar. The rice vinegar is in the section with the other vinegars. There are a couple of Asian buffet type restaurants, hadn't thought about asking them. No Asian stores, either. I've never ventured into the seasoned vinegars, figured that would limit their use too much to suit me. And since I 'discovered' rice vinegar, it is the only kind I use on a cucumber salad. Thanks again for the responses Rusty

Why would it not be good? The balsamic vinegar that they make in Italy is sometimes much much older. I know someone who bought a barrel for his grandchildren who are not even born yet. The only thing about that vinegar will be that it's likely to be fairly strong i.e. acidic. The acid is probably higher than that of store-bought. Doesn't harm it though. And since it hasn't been aged in barrels, it's not going to have that complex balsamic quality, but I've had plenty of 32 year old wine and I'm none the worse for wear. PS - you can probably microwave it or heat it to pasturize if you're worried, but I bet it's too acidic for any robust life forms.