On the weekend of 25 – 27 October 2024, the bastide village of Labastide d’Armagnac (40 Landes, Nouvelle Aquitaine) celebrates the local tipple – Armagnac with Armagnac-en-Fête!
Armagnac pre-dates the better known brandy Cognac by about 150 years but never seems to have been as commercially successful or available, tending to be appreciated more by restaurants, connoisseurs and the locals. There are 3 Armagnac producing areas – Bas Armagnac, Tenareze and Haut Armagnac – of which Bas Armagnac produces the best brandies – “Bas” means low, but that refers to the altitude, not the quality.
Armagnac is made from distilled wine, four grapes are commonly used: Folle Blanche, Ugni Blanc, Colombard and Bacco, not dissimilar to Cognac’s grapes. But the distillation is quite different – the Armagnac “alambic” still is a continuous distillation process, which produces a higher and purer concentration of spirit than Cognac’ double distillation process.
More info see www.armagnacenfete.com/
Accommodation nearby including the B&B Les Chambres de Labastide, a 19th Century house within the medieval village.
Andy Pietrasik in the Guardian (2012)writes about Brandy Galore in France”
For more on Armagnac see Tasting Armagnac