September 6, 2015

A verticale of very old armagnacs
Part Un, 1975-1900

Frankly, it’s all good and well when some distinguished Scots come up with another pretty heavily priced bottle of very old malt, such as G&M’s brand new Mortlach 75 yo 1939. At least there is an age statement – and not just any age statement! But are such very old spirits extremely rare indeed? In Scotland, the answer is yes, but in other countries that are also making lovingly aged spirits? Not too sure. For example, there are some very brilliant, and even older armagnacs that retail for much, much, and I mean much less money. So, as you may have guessed, we thought we could try to retaliate to all these pricey oohs and all those obligatory aahs that are emanating from up there in Scotland with, indeed, some very, very old armagnac. Are you ready to go quite far?

ad circa 1925

But first, a little aperitif to season our nose and palate… A very young one, a 1975…

Castarède 1975 (40%, OB, armagnac, +/-2005)

Colour: salmony amber. Nose: straight on sultanas and ripe peaches, but rather without the usual prunes. Starts rather mellow for an armagnac, so a bit cognacqy, perhaps, but there is a little earth coming through after a while, as well as hints of mushroom. Becomes more complex over time, with some milk chocolate, and a little old Banyuls. Only the low strength makes it a little shy, but that’s something we might encounter with almost all armagnacs that we’ll try today. Mouth: excellent arrival, bigger than expected, and with this little grittiness that sets them apart from cognacs. Spiced fruits, raisins, loads of dried figs, and then a combination of rum/raisins ice cream and strong honey. Very lovely old style armagnac, let’s only hope the older ones will go the distance, this session starts almost too well. Finish: rather long, candied and jammy, with beautiful roasted raisins. Comments: almost 1950s Macallan ;-). SGP:631 - 88 points.

Warning, we’ll go down the years at the speed of light…

Francis Darroze 49 yo 1965/2014 ‘Domaine de Peyrot’ (48%, OB, Bas-armagnac, brut de fût)

Darroze have a huge reputation! Brut de fût means natural cask strength. Colour: pale amber. Nose: Waaah! Sultanas and fresh mint, then figs and lemon grass, then honeydew and butter cream, then orange liqueur and yellow chartreuse. Then mushrooms, autumn leaves, a touch of ‘good’ rubber (bicycle inner tube), and some liquorice. Simply a glorious nose – this is clearly going too fast! Mouth: oh what a punchy spirit! Starts with lemon and oranges, with some ginger, and goes on with peaches, quinces, raisins, maybe a few prunes, and this gritty leafiness that really screams ‘armagnac!’ There are some tannins, but those remain soft and never get in the way of the spirit. Finish: very long, with these oranges singing loud. Heavy liquorice in the aftertaste. Comments: if this was a Scotch, it would be an old Dalmore. I find it just superb, and it certainly is a more than perfect malternative, for approx 200/250 Euros a bottle. Aye, that price is shocking, my dear. SGP:662 - 91 points.

Was that an exceptional bottling by Darroze? Only one way to find out… Trying an even older one.

Darroze 50 yo ‘Les Grands Assemblages’ (42%, OB, Bas-armagnac, +/-2015)

Between 195 and 250 Euros a bottle depending on the retailers. You read that right, no zero missing. Yes, fifty years. Yes, a highly reputed house. Yes a 70cl bottle. Colour: amber. Nose: what a complex, subtle, and elegant spirit! The grapy and raisiny notes have gone to the background, leaving room for very delicate notes of artisan marzipan, soft olive oil, chocolate, wet earth, earl grey tea, oriental pastries and, perhaps, a little putty, eucalyptus and menthol. The whole is magnificent, subtle, never in-your-face, and with an amazing complexity. This nose makes most old Scotches pretty, well, rustic if you ask me. Mouth: e.x.c.e.p.t.i.o.n.a.l., bright, vibrant, fresh, incredibly fruity, extremely tertiary (there are myriads of flavours) and yet totally coherent. Peaches, vanilla, raisins, mangos, buttered fudge, liquorice, oranges, more raisins, dates… What I especially love in this is the way the oak only underlines the fruits and other flavours, and never comes to the front. At 50 years of age! The body’s totally perfect, and so is the strength. Amazing and glorious. Finish: long, rather a little simpler, but that’s great as it doesn’t make you want to spend hours with it, and makes you totally ready for another one. Thank you, Mr Darroze. Now, the aftertaste might be a wee tad too tannic, but 50 years! Comments: this is going too fast, and this is going too high. One of the greatest ‘new’ spirits I could taste this year, and most certainly the cheapest. SGP:651 - 93 points.

To think that you can now buy some new NAS whisky for the price of that stunning 50 yo Armagnac! Many people seem to believe that since this is a free market, as long as someone buys the product, the price is right. To me, that does not make a price right, you shouldn’t take advantage of suckers, even if they’re wealthy and even if there are many of them. Anyway, I’ve got Darroze’s 60 ans d’âge as well, and in theory, we should have it now. But we’ve got ‘younger’ vintages by other houses as well, and this is meant to be some kind of verticale… So…

Armagnac Vaghi 1963/1992 (40%, OB, Baron de Sigognac, Chai des Sables)

Okay, okay, this one’s much younger – but the vintage is older, or similar. Always the same dilemma with verticales, sort upon vintages or ages? Colour: amber. Nose: oh, this is completely different. Beginners sometimes believe that all armagnacs – or cognacs for that matter – taste the same. Not so, not so, and if they do, Ardbeg and Auchentoshan taste the same as well. So, this one’s much more roasted, chocolaty and coffee-ish. In a way, it’s more ‘old style’ than the Darrozes, but it’s certainly not less entrancing. Wonderful smoky coffee, black earth after a long hot day, black tobacco, and chocolate cake straight from the oven. Wow. Mouth: ooooh… Glory glory hallelujah! Amazing caramelised quinces, roasted raisins, genuine café latte (not Starbucks’!), kugelhopf, panettone, and more roasted raisins. Stunning mouth feel, perfect strength, amazing spirit. And not even 30, mind you, it’s almost a baby armagnac! Finish: long, a wee bit caramelly, candied, with plenty of dried fruits. Even bananas, mind you. Comments: good, I had thought this baby would have been a perfect ‘break’ armagnac after the Darroze 50. I was wrong – who said once again? Who?. SGP:652 - 92 points.

Pfff, only 1963, we’re running late… But Castarède is on again…

Castarède 1957 (40%, OB, armagnac, +/-2005)

So around 50 years of age. Remember, over there in humanist Scotland, this kind of baby would now cost you around £10,000. Colour: amber. Nose: well in the style of the 1975, as if the vineyard was exactly the same. But there are a little more herbs, such as parsley, a feeling of beef bouillon, a bit of leather, perhaps a spoonful of strawberry jam, certainly a little marmalade, some chestnut puree… It’s just that the power is a little low this time, after the glorious ones that we just tried. Let’s check the palate… Mouth: yess! It’s a rather rustic one, that tastes of the farm, the countryside, the grass, the prunes, the ducks, the geese (wot?)… Well, we’re well in the south-west of France. I imagine this excellent old armagnac would go very well with foie gras. With a bit of black truffle right in the middle! Finish: perhaps a little short, and that’s most probably because of the dreadful 40% vol. The EU should make that strength streng verboten beyond cheap vodkas and gins. Yes, and blended Scotch. Comments: a bit short, and that’s a shame. An old armagnac that had just everything but that’s also a little frustrating. Great spirit nonetheless, just a tad weakish. SGP:641 - 86 points.

Serge, faster please…

Darroze 60 yo ‘Les Grands Assemblages’ (42%, OB, Bas-armagnac, +/-2015)

499€. I kid you not. Yup, 70cl again, not 50cl in a bottle that looks almost the same as a 70cl if you’re not careful. Doesn’t that ring a bell? Colour: dark amber. Nose: it’s often said – well, I often write – that great old spirits from anywhere in the world tend to converge, and this is yet another fine example. Indeed it’s got notes of very old Demerara, it’s certainly got ‘ideas’ of pre-WWII Macallan, it’s got touches of hyper-old Calvados, and it’s got fantabulous whiffs of coffee from the best plantations, perhaps is that Ethiopia, perhaps is it Jamaica. In fact, it’s a whole, it’s not a collection of various aromas and scents. I’ll say it again, wow. Mouth: well well well, nope. We’ve gone too far, it’s getting tannic and drying, it’s lacking smoothness, and it really becoming too gritty and, yeah, drying. You need a lot of intellectualisation to really enjoy this on the palate. The nose was fabulous, but the palate, well, rather less so in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great old armagnac, but I think it’s past its prime. The 50 yo anytime over this. Finish: a bit better, thanks to rummy notes of dried bananas and burning leaves. Herbal tannins in the aftertaste. Comments: it would be excruciating to give a bad score to this grandpa armagnac, but to be honest, the palate did not hold a candle to the very fantastic nose. To think that Robert Parker himself just loved this one! SGP:461 - 85 points.

Have we gone too far this time? Only one way to find out – because mind you, this isn’t over yet… Let’s jump to WWII, and try this…

Laubade 1942/2003 (40%, OB, Armagnac)

So another 60 years old, just to make sure. Laubade are well-known for being able to find almost any vintage. Well, maybe not 1811… Anyway, this baby survived the thirsty Wehrmacht! Colour: red amber. Nose: I’ve often found that Laubade’s armagnacs were the closest to cognacs, and this is no exception. Starts with a combination of rich stewed fruits, chocolate, and cappuccino, and gets then pretty oaky, but in an elegant way. Freshly polished old Jaguar dashboard, humidor, chocolate, cigars. It’s old armagnac as the general public – well, in France – thinks it should be. I have to say I do also enjoy these notes of blackberry jam. Mouth: a little unlikely, slightly disjointed, and certainly quite tannic. Last night’s black tea, old Bordeaux from a dry vintage (1975 anyone?), oloroso sherry… Rather disappointing, I have to say, it’s rather lost its oomph. Finish: medium, grapy, drying. Bitter chocolate and over-infused tea. Comments: a good example of an old spirit that was kept in wood for too long, in my humble opinion. Good as a birthday gift – should your vintage be 1942 – but other than that, honestly, it’s a disappointment… SGP:371 - 78 points.

Down 13 years please…

Goudoulin 1929/1972 (40%, OB, Armagnac, for Monsieur Ruppert Epp, Lucerne)

Some kind of private bottling for a Swiss gentleman – I hope he bought it before the Wall Street crash -, by a good house that still exists today. They are located in Courrensan, in the Gers region. Colour: dark amber. Nose: some kind of blend of old earthy pu-erh tea and smoky lapsang, plus quite some coffee, chocolate, and black raisins. We aren’t far from the Vaghi’s style, with the coffee-ish notes up, and the fruity ones rather down. That’s rather the ‘old style’ of armagnac, while, in my very weak experience, more modern armagnacs are rather fruitier. Now, it’s pretty beautiful, you just have to enjoy coffee as much as I do. Mouth: perfect, classic, old style indeed, and totally prune-y. So bags and bags of prunes, black liquorice, espresso, black raisins, caramel (they may have, ahem, added some, the Scots did not invent spirit caramel)… But it’s globally quite perfect. You just have to enjoy coffee… and coffee liqueur. Finish: rather long, although the ‘centre’ is a little short. A curious feeling. Plenty of chocolate in the aftertaste. Comments: it’s hard to judge this old one. Imagine, 1929! And who are we, by the way? So it may not be totally ‘natural’, meaning unseasoned, but I’ve just decided that it was a thrill. 1929, my god… SGP:461 - 86 points.

Laberdolive 1923 ‘Domaine de Jaurrey’ (40%, OB, Bas-Armagnac, Folle Blanche, +/-1990)

A well-reputed house, and armagnac’s well-known old grape, folle blanche. Which you could translate into ‘the mad white’. Laberdolive is a superbly old-fashioned brand. This baby’s almost 70 years old! Colour: amber. Nose: oh. Let’s not rush things too much. This one tells you secrets, it tells you about its encounters with Gershwin, with Picasso… It whispers low, it’s murmuring, it’s not big, it’s even a little fragile, a tad too earthy, it may lack fruits, power, immediacy, modernity… But it’s got these whiffs of old ink, old books, old magazines, old powder, old mint cream… Some would call this ‘weak’, but I don’t agree. It’s just well-mannered. But the palate will tell us the truth… Mouth: oh. Mysteries and secrets, lightness and… coffee grounds. It is, indeed, some fragile old armagnac, not immediately satisfying, and even a little frustrating. But then you’re remembering this baby was distilled when the first 24 Heures du Mans took place, and you cannot not be amazed. Finish: a little short, a little fragile, a little wobbly. But moving it is. Comments: time in a bottle. It’s not a tasting session, we’re wandering through time. 1923, imagine… SGP:341 - 80 points.

Back, back, back… Towards the beginning of WWI…

Robert Castagnon 1914 (40%, OB, Armagnac, Ferraretto, Italy, +/-1975)

1914… I know this baby’s only 60 years old, but still, 1914… Imagine, the fracas of time… The house Castagnon was located in Nogaro, it seems that the brand belong to Armagnac Ducastaing. Colour: coffee. Nose: very old Sauternes. Sauternes from similar vintages, that is. And parsley (I often find parsley in extremely old spirits), oxtail soup, oyster sauce, bitter chocolate, humus, pine needles, mushrooms, dark cigars, more soups, more bouillons… I find this totally amazing, extremely far from the Darrozes, for instance, but this very herbal style is just flabbergasting. What I find fantastic is that there isn’t one single fruit, and yet it’s totally brilliant. Oh, did I mention gunpowder? You’re right, 1914…

Mouth: strange, in a great way. These very old spirits tend to lose focus, and to go into all directions, but that makes them even more interesting. What’s very moving is to find small notes of modern armagnac, as if this was distilled last year. Cherries, for example, raisins, oranges… And certainly quite a lot of coffee and chocolate. Now, the beefy notes are gone. Finish: medium, chocolaty, perhaps a tad too cardboardy. But 1914! Comments: imagine the guys who distilled this. Velvet trousers, big moustaches, bérets, jokes, and plenty of authenticity. The problem is that they were probably sent to war just a few weeks later. Verdun, anyone? SGP:451 - 88 points.

Good, how about an armagnac that’s more than 100 years old?

Baron de Saint-Feux 1904/2007 (40%, OB, Armagnac)

The house Baron de Saint-Feux, in Castelnau d'Auzan, still exists. That is right, this is 102 or 103 years old armagnac. Beat this! 1904 was the year of the Entente Cordiale, signed in April between the United Kingdom and France, so of the terrible sharing of Africa between both colonial nations. Colour: dark red amber. Nose: what an amazing freshness. Earth, mushrooms, moss, old tree bark, old cigars, more earth, even more earth, plenty of earth, and dark chocolate, tobacco, Russian black tea, Spanish ham, extremely old amontillado, drops of engine oil… Sure it’s not Port Ellen 20 yo Rare Malt as far as power is concerned (oh come on), but this extremely umami-esque nose is, well, superbly complex. My, 1904! Mouth: but it fights, and it boxes, and it punches you! It’s gritty, it lacks smoothness, it’s very ‘artisan’, it’s totally unpolished, it’s drying, it’s tea-ish, it’s, well, not too good in fact, but it’s more than 100 years old. Get it? More than one hundred years old. The kind of age that some lovely Scots will try to sell us for £10,000,000 a bottle around the year 2050, if all goes well. You bet? Finish: rather long, but dry and drying, not too far from the grassiest old Calvados. Comments: some ‘symbolic’ old armagnac. I do not find it very good, to be honest, but that may not imply that all 100+ years old spirits should be too tannic. We’ll soon double-check that… SGP:251 - 75 points (but 100 emotional points).

So could we go even further? Like, tasting 106 years old armagnac? You bet? After all, is this armagnacfun… I mean, whiskyfun.com or not?

Laubade 1900/2006 (40%, OB, Armagnac)

No words, no words… We’re in the 19th century! Because no, 1900 was not the first year of the 20th century, it was well the last year of the 19th. Colour: dark red amber. Nose: I don’t think any spirit could be as moving as this. It’s got glazed chestnuts, it’s got fine Italian leather, it’s got whiffs of old incunabulum, it’s got myrtle, benzoin, ambergris and vetiver, it’s got old roses and forgotten liqueurs from the colonies, it’s got stewed strawberries, and it’s even got a little ham. I’m serious, ham. The whole’s a little light, but its complexity is just mesmerising. Mouth: yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah! Fresher than the 1923, 1914 and 1904, and even rather fruity. We’re rather talking fruitcake, in fact, or old jam, because it’s no big spirit, obviously. But it’s amazing that it’s still alive, that it did not go flat, and that it didn’t become as dry as some old black tea. There’s some life in this, despite the 106 years in wood, and we just couldn’t accuse the owners of only selling these vintages to people who celebrate birthdays. How many people who were born in 1900 were still as alive as this in 2006? Even on Okinawa? Finish: short, obviously, and rather too sappy/resinous, but again, there’s some life in this. The aftertaste is a little grapy, but those were grapes that had been harvested in the year 1900. Enough said. Comments: it seems like we’ve just tried our oldest spirit ever. One hundred and six years old. I don’t know what to say… SGP:341 - 90 points.

Well, I think we should stop ‘Part Un’ now. This is getting totally insane. But do you know what we’ll taste next time, in Part Deux? A whole bunch of armagnacs that were all distilled in the 19th century. No I am not joking! So, stay tuned… Oh and just one little thing, when we’re writing ‘106 years old’, for example, we’re taking any possible ageing in demijohns into account, so that does not obligatorily mean that the spirit was kept in wood for all of its life. But demijohns are also maturing vessels, and are usually fitted with bung-clothes that let them breathe. So they’re not like sealed bottles!

(heartfelt thanks to Diego and Olivier)

A verticale of very old armagnacs Part Un, 1975-1900

A verticale of very old armagnacs
Part Un, 1975-1900