WINE ENTHUSIAST - 2003

ARMAGNAC

SUPERB (90-95)/Highly Recommended Baron de Lustrac 1973 Domaine de Courros 100% Folle Blanche Bas Armagnac (France); 42% abv. Aromas of baked apple, sweet oak, vanilla, honey, green melon, nectarine and a trace of spice. On the palate, it’s medium-rich, intensely honeyed, and fruity. The deep, multilayered midpalate is succulently sweet and woody. Finishes caramel-sweet, lush and full-bodied, with just a hint of spirity heat.

Baron de Lustrac 1980 Domaine de la Croix Pelanne 100% Bacco Bas Armagnac (France); 42% abv. Its tea leaf/toasty aroma is so emblematic of bacco, with scents of honey wheat toast, rubber pencil eraser and butterscotch. Palate is scrumptious, sweet, concentrated and intensely caramel-like; with traces of asparagus and green leaf vegetable. Finish is bittersweet, eggy and creamy.

VERY GOOD (85Ð89)/Recommended Baron de Lustrac 1977 Domaine d’Espelette 100% Bacco Bas Armagnac (France); 42% abv. Black tea leaves and light toast on the nose. Palate is mildly honeyed with vanilla, marzipan, old oak and honey. Finish is long, berry fruity sweet and ripe.

Awards : Spirits of the year 2003

How to choose from the hundreds of new

Spirits released every year ? No need: we’ve

Done the work for you. Here, our top ten picks,

Chosen in a blind tasting.

By Pete Wells

Foodandwine.com November 2003

Best Armagnac

Baron de Lustrac 1980

Cognac is associated with powerhouse brands that are often name-dropped by rap stars; Armagnac is produced by hundreds of anonymous farmsteads scattered around the Gascony region of southwest France. Luckily, the négociant firm Baron de Lustrac scours the countryside in search of bottlings like this one, made by Domaine de la Croix Pelanne from a grape called Baco. Small-scale farming and microdistilling produce a spirit so perfect on its own that it doesn’t need blending. More than two decades in oak have made it stunningly mellow, with a lingering caramel warmth that lasts so long it really shouldn’t be called a finish.

Spirit Journal Guide to Whiskey, Wine, Beer and Cocktails - JANUARY 2004

Bas-Armagnac Baron de Lustrac 1972

Domaine de Lacaze

Excellent purity, the aroma right from the start shows round, biscuity and mature praline-like notes that are simultaneously nutty and sweet-lusciously bittersweet candied almond core aroma; the palate concludes intensly bitter-sweet and nutty very good well crafted and certainly recommended. Spirit Journal Rating 3 star.