Chateau Le Courrejot 1980...

Chateau Le Courrejot 1980 (42.0%): Back to the world of Armagnac and this time with a pretty rare bottling from a producer you don't see that often on the shelves. Especially here in US... Chateau Le Courrejot is situated in the heart of Armagnac-Ténarèze in Condom, France. It looks like they handle every step of their production in-house since they first started distilling in 1973. They use the grapes harvested from their own estate, distill the crops with the still they own and age their spirit in cellars on site. This bottling is distilled in 1980 and bottled in 2003 when the spirit was twenty-three years old.

Color: Medium to dark amber, mahogany color with a thin line of teardrops around the glass dissolving into continuous and oily legs.

Nose: Cranberry juice, Maraschino cherries and maple syrup. Almond cookies, strawberry soda and currant jam. Nice: Kir Royale..!

Palate: Here is the wood... Very gentle and subtle though. Old neutral oak, vintage hardwood furniture. The palate is not so red and sweet like the nose suggested. It's pretty dry actually and also a little tannic. Dried mushrooms, Herbes de Provence and dried lavender. Grape leaves and cassis lambic. The texture is a little on the thinner side hence the abv but the herbal and floral backbone holds up considerably well.

Finish: Medium to long and mouth drying with black soil, grape seeds and lavender. More fruit lambic...

Overall: I have to admit that I am usually biased against low abv Armagnacs thinking that they will be thin on the palate but here is an example to prove me wrong. This is a beautifully aged Armagnac... Tart, fruity and dry with sweet herbs and perfect amount of wood. I am so glad that I had the chance to taste this. I sure do have a big smile on my face right now... Thanks again to Brian Borger for the sample.

Price: N/A

90/100