8 Red Wine Vinegars, Ranked Worst To Best

Perhaps you have apple cider vinegar on hand in your kitchen, or maybe you even keep white wine vinegar stocked for when you need to add a subtle but zingy flavor to your favorite dishes. But your vinegar stash isn't truly complete until you've added red wine vinegar to the mix. Sure, it has some similarities to white wine vinegar, but it ultimately has a different flavor profile and shines in different sorts of dishes. It works particularly well in marinades, vinaigrettes, or paired with oil for a perfect sandwich topping.

Now that you know you should have this particular type of vinegar on hand, you have to pick up a bottle of the stuff from the grocery store. But which brand should you choose? I've tasted eight different red wine vinegar brands to deliver the 411 on which tastes best and which you can skip in favor of more delicious options. I particularly paid attention to overall flavor balance and fruitiness, searching for the varieties where you can actually taste those bold red wine notes. Once you find a particularly tasty red wine vinegar, you'll start to see why it's such a great staple to have in your pantry. And if you don't want to go out and buy a bottle, learn how to make your own red wine vinegar at home.

I was especially excited to try Star Red Wine Vinegar because of the way the bottle looked — its skinny top and bulbous bottom caught my attention immediately. But just because a product is packaged well doesn't necessarily mean it's the tastiest option on the shelf, and that's definitely what I discovered from this brand. Pouring it out, I noticed that it had a much rustier appearance than the other varieties I tried, ostensibly because the product is aged. I would assume that would result in a more concentrated, complex flavor profile, but I was wrong.

This red wine vinegar really doesn't have much fruitiness to it at all. Rather, I picked up on the basic aroma and flavor of alcohol. In fact, it smells sort of like that bottle of red wine you forgot about and tried to open back up a month later. On the palate, the flavor is sort of thin and watery, apart from those alcohol-forward notes. Unless you're buying for the bottle alone, you might want to skip this brand.

Pompeian Red Wine Vinegar isn't terrible. In fact, if I hadn't tasted all of these red wine vinegars side by side, I would probably think it was fine. But compared to other, better-tasting varieties on this list, I couldn't get excited about what this bottle has to offer. The acidity is there, but I don't really taste a lot of fruitiness in this vinegar (despite the label claiming that this stuff is both "bold" and "fruity"). In fact, it tastes like basic vinegar more than anything. Without the color, I don't think I'd be able to tell that this is red wine vinegar specifically.

If you're looking for a basic, relatively affordable bottle of red wine vinegar for random uses, then this may not be a bad option. But if you're highlighting red wine vinegar as an ingredient all on its own — like you might if you like to add oil and vinegar to your Italian sub sandwiches — you should probably opt for a more flavorful vinegar selection.

Out of all of the red wine vinegars I tried for this ranking, I think Holland House Red Wine Vinegar has to be the lightest and least concentrated. Yes, you can taste a subtle fruitiness here (although it doesn't quite reach the boldness or intensity of red wine specifically), but it's not pronounced, and the actual acidity seems a bit restrained as well. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as you may not want quite so much acidity or flavor intensity in certain recipes that call for red wine vinegar. However, if a milder flavor is what you're looking for, you can always choose a more concentrated product and use less of it or water it down, so it feels like you're not getting the best deal with this brand.

If you're sensitive to acidity and you're looking for a mild vinegar that will taste good on simply dressed salads, like a Cobb salad, Holland House may have you covered. But for the real acid freaks out there, another red wine vinegar is the way to go.

In my experience, Signature Select's products don't always offer the highest possible quality. This is reflected in the price, of course — as a store brand, Signature Select seems to offer competitive pricing for a lot of different products. Therefore, considering the brand and the price tag, I wasn't expecting Signature Select Red Wine Vinegar to be very good. Although it's far from the best of the bunch, I was pleasantly surprised with this product. The acidity is well-balanced, and you can taste a touch of wine-like fruitiness when you taste it.

When it comes to value, this might be your best bet on the red wine vinegar front. If it's an ingredient you don't tend to use very often, snagging this store brand version may be your best bet. But when comparing the flavors of different brands of red wine vinegar, this variety still lands in the bottom half of the ranking.

Now, we're getting into some of the tastier red wine vinegar options on this list, starting with Bertolli Red Wine Vinegar. This is a solid vinegar all around. First of all, it has the requisite fruitiness I'm looking for, which is balanced by a nice, bold acidity. That fruity note instantly makes it more interesting in various dishes, offering more than a basic white distilled vinegar might. There's not just fruitiness there, though; the actual wine flavor is pronounced here as well, adding even more complexity to the taste.

However, I found that this red wine vinegar might be a little too concentrated, with a strength that could easily overpower subtler, more delicate flavors; keep that in mind if you're looking for a red wine that will pair well with light salads, fish, and other neutral-tasting dishes. Since I'd rather have too much flavor than too little, though, this brand still earns its No. 4 spot on this list.

Compared to some of the other red wine vinegars on this list, I found that DeLallo Red Wine Vinegar has a rather lighter flavor. That doesn't mean it's not concentrated — on the contrary, it's not too watery or thin-tasting at all. Rather, this vinegar almost has a refreshing quality. Yes, the acidity is still there, offering a mouthwatering burst of flavor, but it's not quite as intense as the others on this list. The fruitiness seems to come from a lighter, less bold red wine, so although there's all the complexity you'd expect from this kind of vinegar, it offers a lighter touch on your food.

I think that this vinegar is excellent, better than Bertolli, and it would work well with plenty of different dishes that call for an extra boost of acidity. Although there are a few brands on this list that I like better than DeLallo, I still don't really have any complaints. It's worth a try if you're in the market for a new bottle of red wine vinegar.

Filippo Berio is an Italian company, so it only makes sense that this product is an Italian vinegar. Still, when a company is specific about where its product is coming from, it gives me hope that it'll be more unique and interesting than products that seem, according to their labels, to be placeless. In any case, this theory holds true for Filippo Berio Red Wine Vinegar, which is my second-favorite selection of the bunch. 

The fruitiness is bold and concentrated, with that red wine-like complexity that takes things to a new level. The acidity is strong but not too pronounced, and all of those notes come together to create a perfect product for dressing up salads, lightening up soups, and drizzling on anything that needs a punch of flavor.

The next time you need a new bottle of red wine vinegar, you might want to give this product a try. With its boldness and flavor complexity, you're not likely to be disappointed.

While plenty of the red wine vinegars listed here will get the job done, Madhava's Organic Red Wine Vinegar is by far the most delicious in my books. It goes above and beyond what I would expect from this kind of product — it doesn't have the basic, fruity acidity of a normal red wine vinegar, but it packs an almost juice-like tastiness that makes it almost good enough to drink straight. (Although, take it from me, the burning your lips will endure is absolutely not worth it.)

This stuff is so fruity that it almost tastes like unripe grape juice, albeit with a stronger acidity. Perhaps this perceptible quality is because the grapes this product is made with come from a single origin — Torremaggiore, Puglia — or because they're farmed by a fifth-generation grape producer. Regardless, using a drizzle of this red wine vinegar is a simple and easy way to upgrade nearly any dish, and it's a must-have for all the true vinegar lovers out there.

I selected these red wine vinegars based on availability at my local grocery store. I evaluated each vinegar according to its aroma, then by its flavor, which I tasted straight from a glass cup. My main criterion for this ranking was flavor — in particular, I looked for fruitiness, a wine-like complexity, and a bold, concentrated acidity. The highest-ranked vinegars here taste fruity but also have that wine-forward flavor, and they lack the wateriness that some of the worst-ranked brands offer.