I've been trying to branch out into other spirits for a while now, mostly because the demand for bourbon and rye is so crazy that special bottles are pretty hard to find and/or priced out of my comfort zone. Prompted by reviews by retired blogger Sku and others on the reddit whiskey network, Armagnac seemed like one of the last bastions where you could get good deals on exceptional bottles so I ran with it. The disclaimer here is though I've had a lot of bourbon, I know very little about Armagnac. What I noticed in trying to research Armagnac is there just aren't a lot of reviews out there apart from K&L which I take with a grain of salt since they are in the business of selling product. In light of that, I thought it would be worthwhile to share a seasoned bourbon drinker's take on exploring this spirit. Most of these are just free-form notes, some were from bottles, a lot were from samples. For the record, I'm also a bit of a proof whore so sub 90 proof spirits aren't something I drink very often.
Delord 25 Year Old Bas-Armagnac 40%
The nose is grapey with some dark cocoa powder sweetness. It’s a little thin as you would expect for 40% but it’s got some menthol spice tingle. The taste is caramel sweet grapes and actually pretty rich for the proof. The finish lingers with woody grapes and some cocoa powder. There’s a good amount of wood influence here and there are hints of those old hyper aged Armagnac notes that I crave but overall I don’t think it tastes as old as other Armagnacs I’ve had this age or younger.
This was the first Armagnac I ever tried at the recommendation of my local shop and this was the bottle that won me over that Armagnac was a spirit I need to explore. Today I consider it my baseline of good as it is easy to drink, has a lot of woody grape flavors, is well price for the age, and easily accessible even in markets that have terrible availability (like my own). Rating: C+
Château De Laubade XO Armagnac 40%
Grape forward, light, thin. Tastes like a younger, typical Armagnac. Not quite on par with Delord 25, probably a little more fruity grape forward and less sweet brown sugar or wood influence. Rating: C-
Darroze 1986 Domaine de Barigos Bas-Armagnac, 47.8%
Very nice balance of sweet and bitter. Tastes rather old and a bit funky. I’ve had better but this is in the right wheelhouse with those classic old Armagnac flavors which I assume are what everyone reviews to as rancio. To me that's old wood tannins, sugary dried raisins, and darker sweet vibes like cocoa. A good, classic, hyper-aged Armagnac. Rating: B
Darroze Les Grands Assemblages 20 year Bas-Armagnac 43%
The nose is very sweet with sugary raisin notes. Also getting a little spice, like what you might pick up in a low rye bourbon. The palate is a lot more of the same - it’s mostly honey and sugary raisin notes with a medium amount of wood influence and some of that aforementioned spice. It's more fruit forward than the other Darroze but in the right wheelhouse. The finish lingers for a bit with honey and a bit of dry woodiness. The proof bump there adds some depth and gives this an advantage over my baseline of Delord 25 - I think this is quite a bit better than that. Overall, it tastes exactly like what you would expect from a moderately long aged slightly up-proofed Armagnac. Rating: B-
Chateau de Pellehaut 1989 27 year Ténarèze Ugni Blanc Armagnac 49.9%
Disclaimer: I have no idea what Ténarèze Ugni Blanc means and I'm not going to spoil anything by looking it up first. The nose is very fruity with a peaches and pears vibe more than grapes or plums. The mouthfeel and taste are very bourbon like with lots of woody sweet flavors and some fruity peaches/pears. There are some classic brown sugar raisin notes in there but they take a backseat to more traditional whiskey notes. This drinks more like a bourbon than an Armagnac as it's more wood and wood sugars than grape and grape sugars. It's almost like I took some EHT single barrel and mixed it with an old Armagnac. Dangerously easy to drink for 50%. I've never had anything like this and like it a lot. Rating: B+
Thoughts: I'm well aware there's a trend where my ratings go up as the proof goes up but that should correct itself a little in upcoming reviews. Up next in part 2 I will branch out beyond Armagnac and try some Calvados brandies. Spoiler alert, I seem to be more partial to corn and grapes than apples.
Note that price is not considered when assigning a rating.
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