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Barossa Valley, Australia. "O’course, if yer don’t look after ‘er, yer mother will die". The speaker gives the customary Australian three-vowels, a,i,e, to the last word. He is referring, not to a human, nor even to an animal mother, but to a vinegar mother, that curious jelly-like formation of bacteria and yeast which fosters the production of acetic acid, the key component of vinegar.

We are standing in the cool, shadowy cellars of Seppeltsfield, one of Australia’s most prestigious, and ancient, wineries. Above us loom two great vats, their oak walls dark and mottled with age. Instead of the expected yeasty aroma of fermenting wine, the smell here is pungent, refreshing with a little nip to the nose. We are in the Vinegar Haus, where white wine vinegar has been fermented continuously since 1882.

Many of the early settlers in this fertile valley of the Barossa came from Germany, bringing with them a love of pickles, particularly dill cucumbers and cabbage. When you think about it, it makes sense that wine vinegar should be made on the same site as wine. Both come from the same source: grape juice. But there is a second reason: the trimmings made from vines at the end of the season harbor the essential yeasts and bacteria for a vinegar mother.

Like yeast starter for bread dough, a vinegar mother develops spontaneously under the right conditions. At Seppeltsfeld, the vine canes are tied in bundles and stacked in the vat. Wine diluted with water and laced with spirit of molasses, is poured in to form a "mash", with a fresh addition every day for six days. The combination of oxygen and alcohol in the wine, fostered by the canes, starts a fermentation process which warms the mash to around 108° F/42° C. Every 10 days, 3,000 gallons of vinegar are drawn from the bottom of the vat and taken way for pasteurization and bottling, while more wine, water and spirit are added to the top. The mother is rarely renewed, and can be self-perpetuating for as much as 15 years.

At Seppeltsfield, Ray Barrows has nurtured the vinegar since the 1970s. Each day he makes a few tests in an Emmet-like makeshift laboratory, noting the results in a ledger which could have come down from the time of Dickens. He himself is a Dickensian figure, with his bushy side whiskers and ancient floppy hat, obligatory in the fierce sun of Down Under. Like the vine canes and wine, Ray’s relationship with his vinegar is symbiotic; he knows by instinct when all is well, or when the temperature of the mash is falling dangerously low and the mother may die.

"They lost their mother over to Melbourne", says Ray, "we had to send ‘em some of ours". The gelatinous, slippery membrane of a healthy mother can be divided without harm (if dark and brittle, the mother is in poor health), a treasure to be passed from friend to friend. Flavor of the finished vinegar can vary quite widely and a mother yielding a well-aged, mellow brew is highly valued.

However you won’t find wine vinegar labeled Seppeltsfeld on the shelves. When wine goes bad it turns to vinegar, and a premium winery cannot afford the association of its product with acidity. So Seppeltsfield markets its vinegar under the name of Vine Valley, though locals are well aware of the connection. A couple of other wineries in Australia also make vinegar on a commercial scale, and at least one famous house in Spain does too.

Vinegar varies in strength, measured by its acetic acid content. The acidity of commercial distilled white vinegar may be as high as 6%, but wine vinegar is lower -- the Vine Valley mix runs at 4.5%, making it ideal for salad dressings and braised sauces such as sauerbraten in which vinegar is an essential flavoring. Ray uses his vinegar as a barbecue baster, simply brushing it directly on the meat, remarking "sometimes its kind of sharp, that’s fine by me". Each year a colleague at the winery puts down over 100 pounds of sun dried tomatoes in vinegar and olive oil in the proportion of two thirds vinegar to one third oil. Note, however, that wine vinegar is not suitable for traditional pickled vegetables which need at least 6% acidity to prevent mold.

To make your own wine vinegar, look out for the shadowy mother which sometimes forms at the bottom of a bottle of commercial vinegar. Powdered starter is also available. The mother must be kept warm and in the dark -- special pottery crocks are available, with a spigot at the bottom so the vinegar can be drawn off easily.

Feed the vinegar with leftover wine -- I mix both red and white -- and cover the crock loosely with cheesecloth. Plenty of oxygen is needed for fermentation (Ray’s huge vats are kept going by pumping with a constant flow of air). Your vinegar may be usable after a couple of weeks, though it will only come to full strength after a month or more. In wineries throughout the world, wineries have a barrel of the homemade stuff tucked away for the boss. Chortles Ray: "it’s alive, it’s the best".

BEEF SAUERBRATEN WITH BUTTERNUT SQUASH

In this Australian version of sauerbraten, the traditional sweet flavoring of raisins and cookie crumbs is omitted in favor of honey and star anise, with an accompaniment of butternut squash roasted in olive oil. You must start well ahead as the beef is marinated at least a day before cooking. Sauerbraten reheats well and the flavor mellows on standing for 2-3 days in the refrigerator. Be sure to use a mellow, aged vinegar from red or white wine.

3-4 lb beef pot roast, rolled and tied
2 cups red or white wine vinegar
2 cups water, more if needed
4 large onions, sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons honey
5-6 star anise
salt and pepper

for the squash
1 large butternut squash (about 2 lb)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons melted butter
medium bunch of thyme
4-6 bay leaves
salt and pepper

1. To marinate the beef: put beef in a plastic bag and set it, open, in a bowl. Mix vinegar, water, and onions and pour over beef. Seal bag, excluding air so meat is covered with marinade. Refrigerate 1-2 days.

2. To pot roast the beef: Heat oven to 350° F/175° C. Drain beef and pat dry with paper towels. Strain marinade and reserve it, with the onions. Heat oil in a casserole and brown beef very well on all sides. Take it out, add onions and brown them also. Replace beef, add marinade, honey and anise, and sprinkle with pepper. Cover and cook in oven until meat is tender when pierced with a two-pronged fork, 2 to 3 hours. Baste from time to time during cooking and add water if pan gets dry.

3. Meanwhile prepare squash: Using a serrated knife, trim ends and halve squash lengthwise. Scoop out seeds. Cut squash, including peel, lengthwise in very thin wedges -- nowhere should they be thicker than 3/8 inch/1 cm. Spread the thyme and bay leaves on an oiled baking sheet and lay the squash on top. Spoon over oil and butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper. An hour before beef is cooked, add squash to oven and bake until tender and very brown, almost scorched at the edges.

4. When beef is done, transfer it to board and cover with foil to keep warm 10-15 minutes so it is easier to carve. If pan juices are thin, boil them 5 to 10 minutes to concentrate them. Taste and adjust seasoning. Discard strings from beef, carve generous slices and arrange them overlapping on a large platter, piling squash around the sides. Spoon over onions and moisten with pan juices, serving the rest separately. Serves 6-8.

Anne Willan is the founder of the famous French cooking school, LaVarenne, and has also served as president of the International Association of Culinary Professionals. She is the author of over a dozen internationally published cookbooks.