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.

I think that site (Still Tasty) says that your tarragon vinegar can be kept indefinitely. It may be past its prime for appearance or taste, but you'll only know that if you actually, yup, taste it. There doesn't appear to be any food safety reason to toss out what is probably a perfectly good bottle of vinegar. Unless you're a vinegar connoisseur or something . . . I've used vinegar (rice, balasmic, white wine) that has sat around for years, it did the job that vinegar is supposed to. As for manufacturers' label instructions to refrigerate, I'm a little skeptical. Why "wouldn't" they say to refrigerate it? There's no incentive for them to not be over-cautious. It's not their refrigerator space and electricity.

Yes, I have had packaged feta go bad, moldy. I hated to toss it, but was too busy to remember to use it, so another few weeks in the fridge would not improve it. Sometimes when I venture into city-land, I stop at a section of Watertown and stock up on Middle Eastern goodies. I like the French feta as a sometimes alternative treat. I had a package of goat cheese in the cellar fridge that I kept forgetting to use. MONTHS. Maybe 6 months. It didn't have any off notes, but my imagination got the better of me and as it was only $5 worth, I experimented and rubbed it onto the bark of a large red maple (Q. rubra). Darn if my buddy the catbird didn't think it was just the berries. That catbird and I have sort of a friendship. She comes over to visit when I'm outside in a hammock or chair. I go out of view, catbird repostitions herself so that she can see me and talk away. I put oldish berries, melon and grape jelly out for her. Her favorites are the grape jelly cups and the chevre sur la bark. lorel*, you are a brave one.

I found you can get by with just pouring the jugs carefully if you're only doing one gallon batches, but really a siphon is best. They call it a "wine racking cane". I got some wine yeast on e-bay, they were selling equipment too like that, so you could get one delivered if you wanted one. Also, the juice is just the frozen kind at the grocery store. Welch's white grape peach is just as good as the Aldi's, it just costs more. For some reason, the white grape mixes seem to make a better finished wine than the regular purple grape juices. The purple ones have a stronger, jelly-like taste that doesn't work as well as a wine. I've heard that the unfrozen kind of juice has preservatives in it and doesn't ferment well. But I didn't try any to find out. So far all I've got finished is the white grape peach, but I think the red raspberry/white grape is almost finished. Maybe one more week. There is a free wine label website that my hubby found www.freelabelmaker.com that has quite a few nice labels on there. I just started a new batch with 1 and 1/2 cups pineapple (fresh) and a can of orange juice concentrate(12 oz) and 2.5 cups of sugar. Someone told me that orange wine is good, and I had the stuff to do it with, so why not?