My Wandering Eye is an ongoing series reacting to the rising prices in the bourbon world. We’ve reached a place where even average products have hit the range where they compete price-wise with other types of aged spirits. If I’m going to be asked to drop $40 to $70 on a mid-range bourbon, I might as well see what else I can get for that money. I hope to see if another spirits category offers something downright tasty in that price range. The goal isn’t to find cheap spirits but to maximize the quality I’m getting at a particular price point. The reviews in this series will all be written through a bourbon drinker’s lens.
I have a very bad habit of finding presents when I go shopping for them. But, it isn’t what you think. See I go shopping for other people and end up with presents for me. And it happens every year right around Christmas. I’ve mentioned in years past that my Dad is a big fan of brandy. Especially Korbel brandy. He joins his fellow Wisconsinites in that preference. Anywhere from between half and two-thirds of the yearly output of Korbel brandy is sold in Wisconsin.
When I was young, I’d buy my dad a bottle of Korbel for Christmas. Soon I realized that he was buying multiple handles of Korbel throughout the year and really didn’t need me to get him his favorite brandy. So I started branching out to other varieties of Korbel brandy, VSOP, XS, etc. I even was able to find him a 12 year old version of Korbel after a friend of mine gave me a blind taste from his bottle. These days, I try to find him something new every year. Just to give him something a little special. And this year is no exception. I found him a bottle of Laird’s 10 Generation, five year old Bottled in Bond Apple Brandy. Look for a review of that in the coming weeks since I couldn’t pass up a bottle for myself as well.
But tonight we are looking at an Armagnac that cost a bit more than that and is just a bit older as well. So, you may be asking, what is Armagnac anyway? That’s a very good question. And honestly I only have the smallest idea. I know that it is from the Armagnac region of France…and that’s about it. So let’s do what any good citizen of the internet would do and look it up on Wikipedia:
Armagnac is a distinctive kind of brandy produced in the Armagnac region in Gascony, southwest France. It is distilled from wine usually made from a blend of grapes including Baco 22A, Colombard, Folle blanche and Ugni blanc, traditionally using column stills rather than the pot stills used in the production of cognac, which is made predominantly from ugni blanc grapes. The resulting spirit is then aged in oak barrels before release. Production is overseen by the Institut national de l'origine et de la qualité (INAO) and the Bureau National Interprofessionel de l'Armagnac (BNIA).
Huh, that’s a lot of words to say “made in Gascony, France, made from grapes, distilled once in a column still, and aged in oak. But what do you expect from an encyclopedia? they aren’t really meant to be entertaining. One interesting tidbit from further down the article is that apparently we can thank Armagnac for all the spirits we enjoy today as it was “the oldest brandy (and liquor) recorded to be still distilled in the world. In 1310, Prior Vital du Four, a cardinal, wrote of its 40 virtues.” So there’s that.
My love of Armagnac stems from the fact that you can usually find a very delicious bottle that is in the 15-30 year range for less than the price of a small car. I even have one that was distilled in 1968 in my closet that I got for less than $300. That’s 50 years of age (I bought it a few years ago). Bourbons in that price range are in the mid to low teens. Or don’t have a stated age at all. Tonight’s brandy was had for less than $100.
Here is what the producer had to say about it (translated from French by Google translate…translated from Google translate to understandable English by me):
Made from Ugni Blanc, Colombard, Baco and Folle blanche grapes. Fermented with traditional vinification to obtain an aromatic, slightly acidic wine with a low alcohol content. Continuous distillation in column stills equipped with “spider-legged” trays. Aged in new French oak barrels (strong toast) then a finished in “semi-exhausted” or even “exhausted” barrels leading to over 25 years in oak. 40% ABV.
Let’s see how it tastes, shall we?
Bas-Armagnac Delord, 25 ans d'âge
Purchase Info: $91.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN
Price per Drink (50mL): $6.13
Details: Age 25 years in oak barrels. 40% ABV.
Nose: Toffee, dried fruit, coffee, chocolate, and cinnamon candies.
Mouth: Caramel, cinnamon, dried fruit
Finish: Medium length and warm. Notes of chocolate, coffee, dried fruit, brown sugar, and a hint of cinnamon.
Thoughts: If you like a dried fruit note, this is really good. At 25 years old, it is running at a little less than $4 per year of age. That's less than half of what Heaven Hill's pricing strategy of $10-12 per year of age for their special releases (though admittedly the regular releases are in the $4-6 range per year of age). Like most brandies. I could wish that it had a little more proof on it. But that might obscure the nuance of the palate. Overall though this is a nice thing to throw on the special shelf with all the other things I don't want to go through too fast. And heck, even my wife who doesn’t usually care for brandy says she like this one. All in all, I’m pleased with my present. And for the record, I did end up sharing it with my Dad too. As he does every year he informed me that he liked it and that it was “almost as good as his Korbel.”
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