Thanks to Heavenly Spirits I'm reviewing two wines by Domaine de Magnaut out of Gascony, France, and three Armagnacs by Bas Armagnac Artez. I've already reviewed the wines; Rouge 2014 and Rosé 2017, but now I'm sipping on some Armagnac.
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| TARIQUET ALAMBIC IMAGE CREDIT: distilling.com |
Armagnac is a brandy from the Armagnac region in Gascony, France, which is just south of Bordeaux. I hate to bring up Cognac every time I talk about Armagnac but it's the easiest way to explain what Armagnac is. Instead of being distilled multiple times like Cognac, Armagnac is distilled just once. Being far less commercial than Cognac, often it's distilled from a still that is brought around from house to house in a wagon called a tariquet alambic. Higher quality Armagnac are distilled in stills called alquitaras. Because of things like this and it's other rules that separate it from its brandy brother, Armagnac is generally more rustic than the elegant Cognac.
Lifted from the tech sheet of these Armagnacs with some edits by myself: Artez is a small Armagnac producer who owns 12 hectares (30 acres) located in the Western part of the Bas Armagnac ("low Armagnac", the western subregion), also known as the First Cru. Even though the eaux de vie (the distilled brandy before it's aged in oak) have been produced at this distillery for many decades, a new owner took over the family business about 20 years ago. The uniqueness of Artez is to produce mostly single varietals Armagnacs, a very rare specialty which requires special skills from the distiller and cellar master.
This little 3 pack of different Armagnacs by Artez will run you about $50, and that's a pretty good deal! So let's crack them open and don't worry about a thing! Because everything little thing's gonna be all right!
