Laberdolive Domaine de Jaurrey 1976 (44.0%): And we continue our "Six different vintages of Laberdolive" series with their 1976 vintage. It is distilled in 1976 from wines of Domaine de Jaurrey exactly like the 1979 vintage we reviewed yesterday and bottled in 2016 when the spirit was 40 years old. Please click this "link" to reach our introductory post from yesterday and to learn more about Laberdolive in general. Well, without spending any more of your time here are the tasting notes for Laberdolive 1976...
Color: Medium to dark amber, orange blossom honey with oily and stationary teardrops around the glass basically refusing to start running down.
Nose: Molasses, burnt honey and dark Muscovado sugar. Very rum-like... Raisins, fruit cake and vanilla frosting. Old hardwood, red wine vinegar and preserved grape leaves. After allowing it to air it gets sweeter on the nose: Rock candies, candied pecans and aged Oloroso sherry.
Palate: Dandelion leaves, rosemary sprigs and heavily toasted old staves. Bitter and quite tannic... Grape seeds, felt scarves and cask aged Grappa. Olive brine, wet tobacco and brand new hemp rope spool. Black mold, truffle oil and wet cardboards. Like on the nose it gets less bitter after a few minutes: Quince paste, cooked prunes and linden tea.
Finish: Long, dry and still tad bitter... Black pepper, wood shavings and sour grapes. Pine needles and basement mold...
Overall: This tasted almost like a pomace brandy when I nosed and tasted it initially... It was bitter, tannic and a little tart. For a pomace brandy enthusiast like myself it was pretty enjoyable but I know a lot of people who would genuinely dislike this Armagnac with their first sip. Then after allowing it to air it opened up though. It got considerably sweeter and less bitter but kept that subtle tartness throughout. I didn't plan tasting these six vintages in a competition format because I knew that they will be vastly different from each other but 1979 vintage I tasted yesterday really stole my heart. For what it is worth I wanted to say again. Four more vintages to go...
Price: N/A
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