Les Grands Assemblages 20 years 43 ° - Maison Darroze - Bas Armagnac
The name Armagnac appears for the first time in the Xth century. Armagnac is thus the oldest eau-de-vie in France. This alcohol was to undergo a major expansion in the 18th and early 19th centuries until 1870, when the phylloxera destroyed the vineyard. The Armagnac will live its dark hours. Of the 100,000 hectares of vines planted at the time, only a quarter will be replanted, and trade will only start very slowly. The region must then organize. The brandy of Armagnac definitively and officially takes its name in 1909 by its name of appellation thanks to the decree of May 25 (Decree Fallière) which also fixes the production area of ??the eaux-de-vie of Armagnac and its three regions. The decree of 6 August 1936 defines the Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée Armagnac and its conditions of elaboration. To these rules of production, Maison Darroze also applies its principles: to respect in full, in connivance with the owner, the terroir proper to each vineyard and watch over its most perfect expression. To preserve the specificities, no assemblage of estates or vintages. In order not to betray the typicities, there is no "reduction" that would dilute by adding "small waters" the alcoholic strength but also the aromatic power and the nuances of terroir. Thus, each Bas Armagnac is strictly itself, with the name of the domaine of origin, its vintage and the date of bottling which tells its real age, the brandy no longer age in bottles. And the collection of the Darroze house is a gustative journey through the infinite variations of terroirs, grape varieties and know-how.