Color: Beautiful looking clean medium amber, cherry wood color resembling old copper pot stills with stationary and rather large tear drops all around the glass very slowly turning into lazy legs.
Nose: Cooked raisins and Zante currants and salted caramel drops. Dark honey, poached plums and tobacco. A fresh coat of latex paint, sanded hardwood and rose petals. Dusty, chalky and kinda smells like a cabinet makers workshop actually.
Palate: Bitter-sweet... Fresh quince slices, tree bark and juniper berries. Cumin seeds, black tea leaves and paprika. Preserved grape leaves, olive brine and dry vermouth.
Finish: Long with peppercorns, grape pomace and rock salt.
Overall: Keeping a 42 year old spirit at this condition is definitely a form of black art perfected for centuries and performed in utter precision in Armagnac province... How they choose the toasting level, age and size of the casks to start the journey of the spirit, how they decide later exactly when to rack those casks making sure that the wood won't take over and eventually how they know when to end the wood aging and transfer them into demijohns are all incredible skills and expertise transferred from generations to generations. It's easy for us now to sip a 42 year old Armagnac and write down tasting notes and discuss what we liked and what we disliked but if you stop for a second and think how many people actually took care of this spirit for more than four decades just to make sure that it survived all those years finally to be poured into our glasses today in its best shape possible the whole experience becomes more and more valuable. I have nothing but respect... And in the end yes, it's a very good Armagnac opening up slowly layer by layer in your glass if allowed enough time to air. Thanks to Brian Borger for organizing the bottle share where I got this sample from.
Comments
I should give Armengac a try.