Category: France

Chateau De Laubade Armagnac Distillery Visit
I spent a great afternoon at Chateau De Laubade armagnac this past fall. Despite the huge fancy estate house, this wasn't much of a vineyard/winery/armagnac house until the 1970s. The property has a history as a research farm and is one of the southernmost properties in the Bas Armagnac.

The property has 260 acres (103 hectares) of vines: folle blanche, ugni blanc, colombard, and bcco. Their particular focus is on baco and folle blanche however, but you might not know it from their ratios: 50% ugni blanc, 35% baco, 15% folle blanche, and 8% colombard.

The region in which they're located, the Bas Armagnac, has sandy soil full of pebbles.

The estate property sits on a hill with a beautiful view of the surrounding forests and vineyards. They have even planted a small forest so that in 200 or so years they can make their own barrels on-site. That's some long-term thinking.

Though the wood is harvested elsewhere, they dry staves on the property for use in their barrels. These are air-dried for 3 years. Each year they make 70-100 new casks. The oak is all local and they help select the trees that will be used. The oak they like has wide grain and lots of tannins. This gives their armagnac lots of color so they don't have to use any coloring caramel in the bottled armagnac.

This year (the end of 2014), they'll be distilling for 32 days. This is a little less than usual due to a smaller harvest.

As is standard in armagnac, each year they combine the barrels for the year, often reduce it with water, then redistribute it to barrels. The barrels "never ever move", just the liquid inside them.

They have 7 aging warehouses onsite of various sizes, holding around 3000 casks in total. Some are rather huge, and some are tiny barns.

They do release some pre-1974 vintages from before they were in the armagnac business: these barrels were purchased. Their own still dates to 1975. They have just one continuous armagnac still and they distill 24/7 (as is normal) from October to December.

They distill different grapes to different proofs:
- Folle Blanche is distilled to 54-56% ABV
- Ugni Blanc is distilled to 56-59%
- Baco is distilled to 60-something
Every year they try distilling and keep raising the proof until they find the right one.

Here they have about a 2.5% angels' share.

The property is also notable because they hire artists-in-residence to build sculptures and installations on the property. The most recent was a cool little cottage dedicated to the angels' share with hoops and barrel staves suspended over water.

I'm hoping one day they decide to do writer-in-residence programs instead 🙂
April 7, 2015
De Montal Armagnac Distillery Visit
This fall I visited 12 armagnac houses in France. Some produce armagnac by blending aged eau de vie, some buy eau de vie and age it, some distill and age, some make wine, distill, and age, and some do all of it.

De Montal is produced by a coop of grape growers called CPG for Compagnie des Produits de Gascogne, located in Nogaro. De Montal is a brand they make produced for the export market. The company is made of 60 members, all grape growers in the Bas Armagnac region.

Distilling at De Montal

The facility is a huge operation and they make a lot of table wine. The still room is pretty big as well, with three continuous armagnac stills named Athos, Porthos and Aramis for the three musketeers, with a bust of D'Artagnan watching over them.

This year they were producing 5000 hectoliters of spirit. They distill the spirit up to 61-62% ABV in their stills for all their brands made on-site.

They say there is no law about the size of barrels in armagnac, unlike in tequila for example. Thus their 3 stars is aged all in big vats rather than barrels.

Here are some notes on stuff I tried, I believe all at 40% ABV:
- 3 Stars: Ages in huge barrels, never typical 400L armagnac barrels. 3 stars has the same age statement as VS but is typically of lower quality and used for cooking.
- VS: May age a bit in small barrels but mostly in large vats
- VSOP: 7-8 years, tastes like cognac
- XO: Around 15 years old: honey/cinnamon toast, woody
- 1995 vintage: similar notes
- 1985: buttery, more fruit, forest herbs, tastes more like armagnac
- 1975: herbs in honey, very good
April 2, 2015
Domaine De Pellehaut Armagnac Distillery Visit
My visit to Domaine de Pellehaut armagnac was super quick, and so also is this post.

The production facility is actually pretty huge. They grow vines, make wine, distill, and age on site.

They produce armagnac from the Tenareze region exclusively. Though they own the vines, they don't own the stills: they are serviced by one of the famous roving distillers. These distillers pull up, distill the wine, and move along to the next place.

Cows on the property, which are housed adjacent to the winery, are fed grape scraps to eat.

We tried a bunch of cognacs in the tasting room. Here are some notes that you will probably not find useful.
- L'Age de Glace (ice age): 3 year old armagnac made to be served on ice.
- 10 year old folle blanche: woody, french oak, balsam
- Reserve De Gaston: There is a different blend of this in the USA, but the version I tasted had lots of umami and meaty notes with butter and allspice
- 1989 Ugni Blanc 50% ABV: Tasty, rancio, wood in great balance
- 1983 Ugni Blanc 48% ABV: All over the place
March 31, 2015
Janneau Armagnac Distillery Visit

Maison Janneau armagnac is located near the town of Condom. It is the #1 exported brand of cognac, and it was purchased 10 days before my visit.

The brand was founded in 1851. In the 1970s it was sold to Martell cognac, then Martell was sold to Seagrams, then when Seagrams broke up it was sold to an Italian importer, then just sold to Spirits France. It is not currently for sale in the US, but that could certainly change.

Making Armagnac at Janneau

Janneau does not own vineyards. They purchase wine from about 20 different producers and distill it themselves. They purchase wine from all the top four grape varietals grown in both the Bas Armagnac and Tenareze regions.

They have both a typical armagnac column/continuous still and pot stills. They are one of just 3 armagnac houses that uses pot stills. They say that double pot still distillation is better for young armagnac.

The pot still for the first distillation is a huge 100 hectoliters still. It produces 40 hectoliters of spirit at 32% ABV after the first distillation.

The spirit is then split up and put into smaller stills for the second distillation. Each of the 25 hectoliters stills is filled with 20 hectoliters of spirit. During distillation, the first 50 liters are heads, then the heart is 700 liters at around 70-72% ABV, then the tails are 600 liters. In total, 100 hectoliters of wine produces 1400 liters of eau de vie using the pot stills.

Heads and tails are redistilled with the next batch, not discarded.

Dilution and Aeration of Armagnac

Armagnac needs a lot of aeration during aging, according to my hosts. The distiller says that the aeration doesn't diminish the aroma or blow off much of the alcohol in the aging spirit, but it helps homogenize together the brandy while aging. (In armagnac, standard procedure is to combine aging barrels' contents together and redistribute them each year, rather than letting the barrels get empty as they evaporate due to the angels' share.) As far as I can tell, this is pretty unusual or at least not discussed in other spirits.

Brandy typically comes off the still at 70% ABV when they double distill in pot stills. They dilute it to 65% before putting it in the barrel (when they single distill, they distill it up to 65% and don't need to dilute). They reduce the proof by 5% ABV each year until it reaches 50% ABV in three years, then decide how to use it – for which bottling. Each year when they do this they purposefully aerate the armagnac.

We happened to be there as they were dumping out some barrels to redistribute – they pour the brandy through a metal grate to help it aerate.

Aging and Bottling

Janneau's headquarters are quite amazing: It looks like an office with a garage entrance next to it, but then they gave us the tour. The structure is actually a gigantic barn with huge ceilings. We went down to the basement level where there were barrels aging beneath the ground floor offices, then another level beneath that. It was built, out of wood as far as I can tell, in 1851.

We also visited a large and newer warehouse with metal racks for the barrels.

One of the unique characteristics about armagnac is that often the aging facilities are combined with the offices and are centrally located. (There are more examples of this I'll talk about in other armagnac distillery visits from this trip.) Some aging warehouses are right near the centers of town – crazy given the amount of flammable liquids stored inside.

Janneau produces two different lines; the classic and the single-distillery line. Confusingly, the single-distillery line is all double distilled armagnac. But this allowed us to taste some comparisons: I tried an 18 year old single- and double-distilled armagnac blend versus an all double-distilled bottling. The one with some single-distilled armagnac had more body and texture, while the double distilled was thinner with more woody notes including allspice.

For my second armagnac distillery visited, this was pretty overwhelming in a good way.

March 25, 2015
Armagnac Marquis de Montesquiou Visit
Marquis de Montesquiou is an armagnac brand owned by Pernod Ricard. It is their smallest production facility of all their brands, according to cellarmaster Eric Durand. The brand was created after WWII.

Eau De Vie

They do not own vineyards nor a winery: they purchase eau de vie (distilled grape brandy) and produce armagnac with it.

The eau de vie they buy is primarily from the Bas Armagnac region, but they do buy some from the Tenareze which Durand says adds structure and freshness. They buy primarily from 10 producers, a little bit more from others.

The grape varietals they use are:
- 50% Baco "for the flesh"
- 40% Ugni Blanc "for the skeleton"
- 10% Folle Blanche "for the spirit"
They buy only eau de vie distilled in the traditional continuous armagnac still. They have contracts with several distillers.

Aging and Blending

We visited the warehouse, named the Cathedral for obvious reasons. It holds 1000 barrels. It was built in 1975, and it looks it.

They age only in local Gascon oak in 400 liter barrels. They buy 20-50 barrels per year- not a lot! Some of the eau de vie is aged in the producers cellars – this is because some of those are more humid than this drier one. It is moved to this warehouse later.

Durand says if you add water to dilute armagnac all at once it's called "breaking" the armagnac. Instead they dilute slowly 3-4 times over the course of aging. Durand says when you add water little by little it increases fatty acid sedimentation, which is apparently a good thing during aging. (They will come out just before bottling as they chill filter.)
- The VS and VSOP have color added, the rest do not.
- The VSOP is aged 8-20 years
- The XO is aged 20-40 years
- The 1989 vintage is 100% folle blanche grapes from the Bas Armagnac region. It's bottled cask strength at 42.1% ABV
- Cuvee D'Artagnan includes some vintages from 1896, 1929, and the youngest armagnac in the blend is from 1974.
Related articles

Introduction to Armagnac: History and Production
March 24, 2015

What’s the Difference Between Cognac and Armagnac?

If cognac is tequila, armagnac is mezcal: Smaller, wilder, and more rustic. I covered the history and production of armagnac in yesterday's post.

In this post I'll cover some of the differences between these two French grape brandies. One difference I forgot to mention below is that they're produced in different parts of France!

Armagnac	Cognac
Four primary grape varieties	One primary grape variety (ugni blanc)
Usually distilled once in a continuous still.	Distilled twice in pot stills.
Features vintages as well as blends	Features more blends, few vintages
Is consumed more locally	Is more an export product
VS = 1 year minimum	VS = 2 years minimum
Often ages in local Gason oak barrels	Ages in Limousin/Troncais oak barrels
Often distilled to lower proof ~57%	Distilled higher ~70%
Grapes cost the same price whether from Bas Armagnac or Tenareze	Grande Champagne grapes way more expensive than from other regions
More sandy soils in region	More chalky soils in region
Allows for an unaged product "Blanche De Armagnac"	Technically, no unaged variant permitted

Beyond production differences, the two aged brandies taste significantly different.

In my opinion, cognac tends to have a very sturdy but subtle backbone of aged grapes, while the aromas are are often delicate, ethereal, and floral.

Armagnac I think of as "foresty," meaning there are often flavors I associate with the forest floor: wood, mushrooms, herbs, dirt. Mmm, dirt.

It's okay to drink them both.

March 18, 2015

A Daylong Visit to Cognac Hine

I visited a bunch of cognac houses in the fall of 2014, and spent nearly a whole day with Cognac Hine at their vineyards, winery, distillery, and blending house.

I didn't realize that there are 250 or so cognac houses, so my visit to less than 20 of them is small potatoes. The big potatoes belong to Hennessy, which makes 42% of all cognac. They, plus the other 3 of the Big Four houses, create 80% of cognac sold. Hine does about 1 percent of Hennessy's volume.

The Vineyards

Hine owns 70 hectares under vine in Grande Champagne but don't grow all of their own grapes – they produce about 25% of their own needs.

Cellarmaster Eric Forget says that in 2014 (I was there just before harvest) they expected to harvest grapes that would make 9.5% alcohol at about 3.4 pH. Just about all harvesting is mechanical in Cognac. Hine rents the picking machines and grape presses to make their portion of wine.

Forget says that vines in the region are typically sprayed to prevent mildew, and it is difficult to make organic wine in the region because of the humid weather. Near to harvest time, they can't spray anymore as that could get into the wine.

When the grape juice arrives at the winery, they start fermentation with dry yeast in stainless steel tanks at 17 degrees Celsius. They temperature control fermentation and storage because for cognac you can't add sulfur or anything else as a preservative while the wine waits to be distilled.

Distilling For Hine

The distillery we visited isn't owned by the brand, but they're independent distillers who make almost all of Hine's brandy. (Hine is only 10% of the distillery's business on the other hand.)

The wine that comes into the distillery is distilled up to 30% ABV after the first distillation. They do make a heads and tails cut after the first as well as the second distillation. The second distillation brings the spirit up to 70-72% ABV. Each distillation takes about 12 hours.

It takes approximately 10 liters of wine to produce 1 liter of spirit.

When a brand like Hine has wine distilled for them, they are able to specify certain distillation parameters. These may include whether or not to distill on the lees, that the heads cuts are 30 liters or whatever, how long the distillation time should be, the temperature of distillation, etc.

For Hine, they distill the wine on the lees, which are the bits of yeast and other bits left floating in the liquid after fermentation. Hine also specifies a smaller cut (meaning more heads in the spirit) but generally tells the distiller to do what they think is best.

I asked the distiller why a premium brand would direct the distillation of a smaller cut, which includes what we think of as more undesirable elements of the heads/tails into the spirit. He said that larger brands do larger cuts because its a 'safer' cut, but also probably results in less interesting brandy.

Aging Cognac at Hine

Forget says, "The philosophy of Hine is to use as little wood as possible," which means they're avoid woody flavors and wood influence. The use fine grain oak, and have their barrels toasted to a low level char.

They say that cognac won't improve in barrel after 50-60 years or so, and they'd transfer it to glass demijohns at that point.

Hine is a cognac that produces a lot of "Early Landed" cognacs, which are not aged in France but in England. By the way, I learned that the amazing grocery/liquor store in Sacramento, Corti Brothers, has a small specialty selection of early landed cognacs.

They also released a unique single-vintage, single-vineyard cognac called Domaines HINE Bonneuil 2005.

Anyway, this visit was my last cognac house for my 2014 trip, and a beautiful way to end it.

February 25, 2015
The Complicated Aging Process for Cognac, as Seen at Cognac Hardy
In 2014 I visited several cognac houses, and had the pleasure to spend several hours with Benedicte Hardy of Cognac Hardy in their aging and blending facilities.

We got really nerdy with specifics on aging cognac. But first, some background.

Hardy specializes in luxury cognacs, and in general is blended in an "approachable" and "feminine" style. It's a very large operation, with 20,000 barrels aging at their warehouses valued at more than 50 million dollars worth of booze.

It was Benedicte's father who made the company famous in recent years putting the emphasis on luxury. She herself has a law degree and is in charge of the US market, so there may be opportunities to meet with her at events in the States (and I'd highly recommend doing so if the occasion arises- she's a character).

A Cognac Maker, Not A Distiller

Hardy is not a cognac house that grows, ferments, and distills grapes, but they do work with a co-op of 200 growers.

The blender, Michael, buys spirit from Grande Champagne, Petite Champagne, Fin Bois, and Bon Bois. But he doesn't just purchase already-distilled wine, he goes to the distillery/wineries to taste before/after and helps direct the distillation if need be. He said that for example, if a wine is super aromatic he might instruct the distillery to distill on the lees, which will mark the spirit for longer aging.

Regardless, he tastes the new-make spirit after purchase and makes a determination on which product they're destined for – VSOP, XO, etc. He says that 90% of the time the initial determination is correct and they won't have to redirect it off its appointed path later on.

Aging Cognac Versus Other Spirits

Many of the world's spirits, including nearly all scotch whisky, rum, and tequila, age in ex-bourbon casks. The wood has had its influence on the bourbon and vice-versa. So the next time that barrel is used to age rum or whatever, it will not have the same amount of influence on the color and flavor of the next spirit.

In cognac and armagnac, on the other hand, they do not use ex-bourbon casks but new and used French oak barrels. The wood gives a lot of influence when it is first used, and in the case of French oak it brings in lots of tannins along with flavor.

So while bourbon ages only in new barrels for its entire life, cognac is usually aged only for a small amount of time in new barrels then it is transferred into older barrels for the rest of its life so that the wood doesn't take over. (One thing to note that in Cognac, a 'new' barrel means that it has been used for three years or less; it's doesn't necessarily mean brand new.)

In scotch whisky and rum and tequila, since they're using used barrels from the get-go, they don't have to worry so much about the over-oaking so they don't need to move the liquids around unless they feel like it.

Aging at Hardy

So that was a lot of lead-up. Here is how the VSOP is aged at Cognac Hardy.
1. The brandy is purchased at 70% ABV
2. It is reduced with water down to 55% and put in Small (220 liter), New barrels. (Note that a typical cognac barrels is 350 liters)
3. The barrels are divided up – some are put into dry cellars and others are put into humid cellars. The ratio is a house secret.
4. At 18 months the barrels are moved into Dry cellars
5. At 24 months, the cognac is reduced to 47% ABV and placed in Humid Cellars
6. After 5 years, the cognac is reduced to 43% ABV and placed back into Small barrels
7. After 8 years, the cognac is blended and reduced to 40%
8. After another 6 months marrying, it is bottled.
Notes About That:
- At each barrel transfer stage, the cognac is taken out from individual barrels and put into a big vat before dilution, then redistributed to the next barrels. No wonder cognac is so pricey.
- Humid cellars at Hardy have about a 3% annual angels' share, while dry ones have 6%.
- For longer-aged XO cognac, they put it into barrels that have been toasted for longer so that these will continue to contribute their toasted effects to it
- XO has the same reduction with water scheme as the VSOP, but the toasting is different. (Additionally it is made from brandy that was more distilled on the lees than the younger brandies.)
- Chill filtration before bottling is at -7 degrees Celsius for 7 days before running it through the filter
The $64,000 Tasting

We were allowed to taste the highest of the high end Hardy cognacs bottled in Lalique decanters, which retail for $16,000 per bottle. They all come from the same stock of cognacs distilled in the 1920s-1940s, but are blended to bring out different aspects of each.

They are named for each of the four seasons, though currently only the spring (Le Printemps) is on the market. Summer launches in November 2015, and Fall and Winter will follow every 2 years from that.

It's weird and rather awesome to be able to taste a cognac that won't hit the market until 2019.
February 24, 2015
Cognac Deau Visit
While in France last year, I had time for a quick unscheduled visit to the house of Deau Cognac.

Deau is located about 40 minutes from the town of Cognac, between the Fin Bois and Petite Champagne. They grow about 30 hectares of grapes, and buy wine from other growers (Fin Bois, Grande Champagne, and Petite Champagne) that they distill on-site.

The distillery itself is quite large, with 12 stills.

I met Véronique Bru Legaret, who along with her son heads up the company. They actually produce three cognac brands: Deau, Moisans, and Roland Bru (named for Véronique's father, who brought the company into the current era).

Previously they sold all their cognac to large brands (I think they no longer do), but now seem to be emphasizing their luxury products. New fancy, sail-shaped bottles have just hit the USA market recently further emphasizing their luxury positioning.

I quickly tasted through most of the Deau line, and here are my nonsensical-as-usual notes:
- VS: Tight but good
- VSOP: Smells more mature than the VSOP bottling would suggest; sweet cream.
- Napoleaon: 7-8 years old. Sweet yellow raisins.
- XO: Around 15 years old. Christmas spices including buttery cinnamon with a spicy/minty finish.
- Black: Around 10 years old. Sweet and thin, meant for mixing.
- Louis Memory: Supple, creamy, like a more mature version of the XO
- L.V.O.: Stands for the French translation of "Life in Gold." Made from 1915, 1930, 1950 Grande Champagne cognacs. Banana, raisins, subtle and sandy.
A superquick but lovely visit!
February 18, 2015
A Visit to Merlet Cognac and Liqueurs in France
The Merlet family has been distilling in France for 5 generations, but have only launched their own brand of cognac in recent years. They have a really interesting history that I learned on a visit to their chateau, vineyards, and distillery in 2014.

A Brief History of the Cognac Market
- Many people from different countries around the world (occupying as well as liberating armies) discovered cognac in World War II. The demand for cognac was very high globally after the war.
- In the 1960s based on the brandy's success, the region planted a lot of vines.
- In the 1970s there was a big glut in the market, resulting in some economic problems for producers who over-planted and over-extended themselves.
- Today those vines planted all those years ago are nearing the end of their lifespan and need to be replanted or maintained.
The Merlet family made wine and distilled cognac for many brands, including Hennessy until 2000. In the 1970s due to the market glut, the Merlet family diversified away from just making cognac into making liqueurs. Today the company's business model reflects both history and that same ingenuity.

Merlet Today
- Produces liqueurs including the Creme de Cassis for which they are particularly well-known
- Makes their own brand of cognac, and produce an unaged brandy for the European market
- Distill brandy for sale to cognac houses
- Produce Hypnotiq liqueur
- Run the Leblon cachaca distillery in Brazil
Visiting Merlet – The Home and Vineyards

I visited the family home, vineyards, wine production facility, distillery, and aging facility, which are scattered about the area of Saint Sauvant, a little village near Cognac with a 12th century church as its central feature.

The family home is Luc Merlet(my host for the day)'s father's house. It looks out over vineyards (they own 40 hectares) and was the former location of the distillery.

The house was also once the home of Baron Otard, who was a real person as well as the name of a Bacardi-owned cognac brand. That brand home is now located in a tourist attraction/castle/aging warehouse in the heart of the city of Cognac.

I visited the vineyards in the fall, about 10 days before they'd begin harvesting the ugni blanc grapes for distillation. (Ugni blanc is the same grape as Italy's Trebbiano.) These vineyards are in the Borderies delimited region, while the current distillery is in the Fin Bois.

Making Wine for Cognac

We then drove to the winery, where they receive the grapes, crush, and ferment them. Grapes are harvested over the course of just 3 weeks and made into wine, then the wine rests until they have a chance to distill it, which can be months away (by March 31 all distilling for cognac must be completed). The winery was a former co-op winery that they purchased.

Ideal ugni blanc grapes for cognac production are low in sugar/alcohol potential, because distillation will concentrate all the flavors in the grape. The lower the potential alcohol the more times you need to concentrate it to reach the final proof, and thus the more you'll concentrate the flavors getting there. (For example, a 10% ABV wine would be concentrated 4 times to reach 40%, while a 5% wine would be concentrated by 8 times.)

Also, for cognac you cannot add sulfates to the wine to preserve it (as those would be horrible after distillation), so they want high-acid grapes.

Distilling and Tasting

At the distillery, they have 9 stills, including a gargantuan 100 hectoliter still. This huge one can only be used for the first distillation; smaller ones will be used for the second.

Merlet's Brothers' Blend cognac (named for Luc and his brother) is a VSOP aged between 4-12 years and created for mixing in cocktails.

They recently released the first of the Seleccion Saint Sauvant cognac, which is a higher-end bottling.

The flagship of the liqueur line is their Creme de Cassis. Legally creme de cassis must have a minimum of 400 g/l sugar added, but theirs has 500-550 g/l according to Luc Merlet. He says the local blackcurrants (which are the only of the fruits for liqueurs that they grow themselves) require more sugar.

Luc Merlet mentioned a traditional cocktail that is a mix of Cassis and Suze, sometimes with soda added. It has a name that means "panty bottom."

Merlet has also released a couple of liqueurs branded as C2, for Cognac and Cassis and Cognac and Citron. These are meant to be premade aperitifs meant for mixing with ice and soda water.

That was a lot of information gleaned from such a short visit! Thanks for Luc Merlet for hosting.
February 17, 2015