Every time I do an armagnac or cognac release folks ask “this seems enticing, but man, while it’s old, it’s expensive. If I want to dip a toe into Armagnac, where should I start?”
Truthfully, there aren’t a lot of great places to start. Armagnac isn’t well distributed in the US, it seems silly to order inexpensive things from overseas, and there just isn’t a lot of good transparency in the category. So, Nicolas Palazzi from PM Spirits – one of the best and brightest in the niche of geeky spirits realm – and Vincent Cornu – the genius and cellarmaster behind L’Encantada – put our heads together.
In a lot of ways, Armagnac feels like a dusty old spirit of the past, consumed by old fogies in dusty smoking rooms with curmudgeonous (is that a word?) attitudes. But, Armagnac is an innovative spirits and there’s a new wave of domaines, producers, bottlers (Le Passeur anyone?!) and people putting out incredible quality with the commitment to cask strength, additive free releases and more. And, it can be affordable without giving up those things. So, stuffiness be damned, an idea came together.
Could we create the perfect everyday armagnac blend – complex enough for fans of the category already to enjoy with reckless abandon while retaining the bold, fruit driven character of Armagnac to welcome curious and new fans with open arms. It’s not the most of anything – the oldest, the highest proof, the dankest, the most expensive, or the cheapest. It’s the best of all of those things in a format and a bottling that’s built to be accessible and share a perspective on armagnac I just don’t think is out there.
While at it, we decided to break some design rules, shaking off stark and ancient feeling designs with a label that matched the vibrancy of the spirit and could sit proudly among other modern bottlings on any shelf.
It didn’t take long to see these wheels fit together into a bottling to be the first of a more consistent offering and at a price anyone could afford.
So, after many many months of scheming between three people crazy enough to do this sort of thing in a landscape of many folks saying “but, the recession! and the tariffs! god, no more Armagnac!” we have managed to persevere and see this to it’s landing on shores. It’s a bad time to be in the business of niche, tiny, tariffed things, especially with a value heavy release in mind but I am proud to say we have done it and it is here.
This is a cask strength blend of armagnacs, hand selected by Cellarmaster Vincent Cornu and custom blended, produced entirely using Ugni Blanc (grape varietal) and aged in new oak, all in Vincents cellars. It’s produced without any coloring, filtering, additives. A shenanigan free and flavor heavy bottling it’s vivid and bright and bucks convention. If the project goes well, there will be follow up batches.
- Distilled: France
- Aged In:France
- Bottled In: France
- Age: NAS
- More Info: No Coloring, No Filtering, No Additives, Barrel Strength
- Mashbill: grapes
- Varietal: Ugni Blanc
- ABV: 58.1% ABV
- Yield: 540 Bottles
- T8KE’s Tasting Notes:
- Nose: Bright on the nose: full of tropical fruit, apples, pears and fig pudding, trending deeper, darker, richer. Rich wood, pipe tobacco, warm dates and a touch of maple, blackberry and faint must.
- Palate: Rich and viscous: layered and complex. Plentiful blueberry, figs and plums, rich oak and plentiful tobacco, tannin. Great structure, notes of apple and cinnamon, currants and a touch of ango meets maple, caramelized sugar, and more oak.
- Finish: Long finish, a touch brighter with some tropical fruits returning to meet apple bake, structured oak, rich brown butter and maple, caramels, crisp acidity and gorgeous date, plum and tobacco on the way out.
- Overall: I wish this existed ten years ago when I got started in Armagnac.