Some more French fines


Mars 13, 2022

Some more French fines
Remember, a fine is distilled wine, whereas a marc is distilled spent grapes. By definition, cognac and armagnac are fines and so is fine de Bourgogne, for example, whilst marc de Bourgogne is marc (bravo, S.!) This time again we'll kick this off with a little apéritif…

Ducastaing la Baïse 'VSOP' (40%, OB, Armagnac, +/-2021)

In the word Baïse, the umlaut is important. If you do not speak French, please just drop that. This is some very old-school Armagnac from Condom, Gers, which makes the name even funnier. But that's enough sauciness, let's try this baby… Colour: gold. Nose: not that 'old-school', or 'vieille-école', actually, rather fresh, fruity and seemingly pretty young. Soft liquorice, liquorice allsorts, peach and quince jelly, then a few flowers, basically dandelion, plus maple syrup and chestnut honey. No complains at this point, this is pleasant, fresh and easy. Mouth: feels really young, rustic, simple, grassier on the palate, a little spirity, perhaps a little forgettable. Fruit peeling, fresh eau-de-vie, a wee vinosity, some grapes, raisins, plum spirit (prune)… Finish: medium, grassy, very simple, very rustic. Some greenish oak in the aftertaste, plus raisins, liquorice wood and banana skin. Comments: for your fishing hipflask, perhaps. It's good, clearly, but I would not quite call this 'a malternative'.
SGP:451 - 76 points.

Jean-Luc Pasquet 2006/2021 'Organic' (50.1%, OB, cognac, Grande Champagne, for Kirsch Import)

Some estate Cognac from the Pasquet estate, so grown, harvested, distilled and matured by themselves. Colour: gold. Nose: many stewed fruits in some sweet wine sauce, with dollops of acacia honey and a few pencil shavings thrown in. With water: some much unexpected whiffs of fresh oil paint, then fresh rhubarb and cut cactus, or agave. A tiny drop of turpentine, drawing gum, then white asparagus. In short, this one's pretty singular, in a good way. Mouth (neat): potent, eau-de-vie-ish, a little grassy, reminiscent of some excellent marc de Bourgogne (rather than fine). With water: vine peaches stewed in white wine, a wee echo of pineau, then vanilla and a feeling of white oak (while it's most certainly French oak). Finish: rather long, with quite a lot of soft liquorice plus vanilla. Comments: this one's clearly malternative, and most excellent. Reduction on the spot is hard to do, though, careful with your pipette because some tannins are eager to jump out.
SGP:551 - 86 points.

Paul Beau 'Hors d'Âge' (43%, OB, cognac, Grande Champagne, +/-2019)

According to the great folks at The Whisky Exchange, this baby's won buckets of awards and medals. Which, I agree, is always a little suspicious, but their VSOP was very okay last time we tried it (WF 79). It is a very traditional house. Colour: amber. Nose: it's a fine, balanced, jammy and fruity cognac, with good citrus (marmalade) and maple honey, plus the usual stewed peaches, then quince jelly and mirabelle jam. Very focused on jams and honey, it would not wander into spicy or herbal territories yet, not to mention anything tertiary. Mouth: led by marmalade and honey once more, this time with small mentholy and liquoricy touches flying around. The much expected raisins are soon to take over, together with oriental pastries (baklava) and notes of burnt cakes. Finish: medium, a notch grassier, with touches of bell pepper. Some blood oranges, stalk... Comments: pretty good stuff but I'm not sure it'll rock my world, or deserve the WF Double Gold De La Muerte Award, should that ever exist (what's your opinion?) The 43% vol. are a little low too.
SGP:551 - 80 points.

Château de Laubade 1989/2018 (49.2%, OB, Bas-armagnac, cask #90014)

Château de Laubade 1989/2018 'Brut de Fût' (49.2%, OB, Bas-armagnac, cask #90014)

A blend of baco, ugni blanc and colombard. We've been happy to learn, from the label, that the casks was lying in chai N°5 (warehouse #5) and that this was tirage N°3 (third disgorging). As usual, this is single-estate armagnac. Colour: full gold. Nose: quite a few steps above the cognac, with superb notes of coffee, walnut cake, cigars, charcoal, then tarte tatin and quince tarte. A lovely earthiness in the background, even a few notes of morels and porcini. Wow wow wow. Mouth: this will be short indeed, what a wonderful, tight, nervous, firm armagnac! There is an old-schoolness to this one (coffee, rancio, toasted oak) as well as some herbal liqueurs, especially Verveine du Velay. Huge, immense, tremendous notes of Verveine du Velay. As a matter of fact, I'm the #1 fan of Verveine du Velay (although that would rather tend to be an old-fashioned liqueur for old ladies). No shame, no shame at all. Finish: long, even greater, always with a lot of verveine/verbena, although orange and citron liqueurs, as well as raisins would tend to supplant that towards the aftertaste. Comments: absolutely superb. Perfect age. It's to be remembered that 1989 was a great vintage in the southwest of France, including in Bordeaux.
SGP:661 - 90 points.

Château de Lacquy 2001 '100% baco' (47%, OB, Bas-armagnac, cask #320, 336 bottles, +/-2021)

So, one hundred percent baco here, and a single cask. Colour: gold. Nose: some full-flown fruity armagnacness, full of jammy fruits, especially mirabelles and quinces, then various honeys. I know that was short, but his nose is superb and brilliantly simple and straightforward. Remember, while complexity's an obvious asset in spirits, simplicity can be just beautiful as well. Mouth: a tad oakier now, with wood shavings and bitter chocolate, also coffee beans and strong liquorice. Something pine-y and even teak-y. Perhaps not totally consensual, but whilst malt remains a little too thin to stand this kind of treatment, a good, solid armagnac will bear it with panache and even glory (S., please, this is only booze). Finish: long, with a little more citrus (kumquats). Comments: we often call armagnac 'rustic' and indeed this is 'rustic' on the palate, but I would say it works extremely well, especially after a mound, and I mean a mound of foie gras and ceps. Or duck confit (insert gentle burp here).
SGP:551 - 89 points.

Perhaps some older ones…

Domaine de Baraillon 1958/2021 (41%, OB, Bas-armagnac)

This is Baraillon by Claverie, #1 armagnac at Château Whiskyfun, so we'll just say nothing. I mean, before we try it… Colour: amber. Nose: #1 = butterscotch, #2 = millionaire shortbread, #3 = currant, #4 dried small Turkish figs, #5 = fifty years old Yquem from any vintage, #6 = bliss. Mouth: we sometimes say that old spirits would tend to converge and indeed, you'd be forgiven for saying this is some old rum. Having said that, it may have lost a bit of its brightness and became a little drying, extremely chocolaty, coffeeish, almost tarry, and certainly pretty glutamate-y and salty. Brilliant old armagnac, it's just that it may have lost a (large) part of its glow. Finish: medium, rather on bouillon, lovage, coffee and miso. Mocha and tobacco in the aftertaste. Comments: just su-perb, as expected, but possibly a wee bit past its prime. Now, we totally loved the mocha in the aftertaste.
SGP:362 - 87 points.

Bas-armagnac 1946/2021 (41.4%, Grosperrin for The Auld Alliance, 34 bottles)

This is post-war armagnac, so we'll try this one for Ukraine! Colour: amber. Nose: extremely contrasting after the 1958, that is to say shock-full of jams, preserved fruits (apricots, peaches) and old white wines. We shan't list them, but great old Meursaults are springing to my mind. Coming pretty unexpected are clear notes of white chocolate and a floralness that's not meant to appear in a, wait, 2021-1946=75 years old brandy. Well, indeed, a part of those 75 years may have been spent in a demijohn, which wouldn't count when calculating the real 'age' of this wonderful old armagnac. Splitting hairs, once more. Mouth: ha, mushrooms, old pipe tobacco, cocoa, office coffee, umami sauce, chicory coffee, Bovril… All that on a lighter, although not quite too fragile body. Very dry in fact, almost amontillado-y. Finish: medium, extremely dry. Meaty chocolate and black tea. Comments: all the characteristics of an old wine that you should not, perhaps, judge as if it were a well-bred, yet still young cru. Rather intellectual, which doesn't surprise me one bit.
SGP:361 - 86 points.

We've got quite a lot of wartime armagnacs and cognacs yet to taste, but I don't feel like tasting them just now. No, not now. Rather back to the 1980s, and we'll be done this time.

Château de Laubade 1986/2019 (48.5%, OB, Bas-armagnac, cask #90024)

Château de Laubade 1986/2019 'Brut de Fût' (48.5%, OB, Bas-armagnac, cask #90024)

First tirage here, and warehouse #5 once more. They've been distilling both ugni blanc and baco here. Baco, actually baco blanc (there's a black/noir baco too) is a cross of Folle blanche and Noah, created in 1898 by Mr Baco so that it would resist Phylloxera while retaining the main characteristics of the traditional folle blanche. Ugni blanc is just another name for trebbiano. Colour: deep gold. Nose: these Laubades 'brut de fût' are all pretty stellar. This time I'm finding a wonderful chocolateness, notes of Ethiopian mocha, some hardwood dust, and assorted black tealeaves. In the background, 'vieille prune' (old plum eau-de-vie, when it's good it's very good, when it's bad it's very bad. Right). Mouth: totally old-school. This is the kind of armagnac you would drink whenever you would attend a bullfight (corrida) down there in the Gers. Very dry, oloroso-like, with much coffee and bitter chocolate, with a drop of salty beef stock. Plum spirit fighting back in the background. Finish: long, dry, on more plum, coffee and chocolate. Comments: you could almost believe this is some old slivovitz. Just superb, but the Laubade 1989 remains my favourite.
SGP:352 - 87 points.

Check the index of all French brandies we've tasted so far