Everyday Drinking: Is Calvados Finally...Sexy?

I've been telling you about my favorite apple brandy for years. Maybe during our Brat Summer you'll finally embrace it. Plus: 15 bottle recommendations!

JASON WILSON

JUN 27, 2024

About a decade ago, a research study was published suggesting that apple consumption improved women’s sex lives. Researchers divided study subjects (more than 700 Italian women aged 18 to 43) into two groups: Those who ate apples on a daily basis and those who averaged less than one apple per day. The daily apple eaters scored much higher on the Female Sexual Function Index, which measures factors including desire, arousal, and satisfaction. According to the study, there’s evidence that apple consumption could be “related to better sexual quality of life.”

I mention this study today because, for more than a decade, I have attempted to convince more people to try Calvados, the exquisite apple brandy from Normandy—with rather limited success. I first tried, in the late aughts, in the Washington Post (twice actually). In the mid-2010s, I made my pitch at Tales of the Cocktail. In 2018, I tried to elevate Calvados with my critical eye at a highbrow wine magazine. I even put in a good word for it in my 2019 book, The Cider Revival. Of course, I’ve held forth extensively on Calvados here at Everyday Drinking.

So far, if I’m being totally honest, none of it has really moved the needle for my beloved apple spirit. Everyone loves Calvados when I pour it for them, but in general, it still remains out of the mainstream.

Sex, on the other hand, sells. And so, I begin my annual pitch for Calvados by highlighting the scientifically studied apple-sex correlation. To wit, a bottle of Calvados is made from about 15 pounds of apples. I’m not saying you’ll want to rethink your date-night drink of choice. I’m simply confident that my readers are people who believe in science.

In any case, now would be a perfect time to dive into Calvados, especially at the top end. There’s honestly never been a more exciting time to be a fan of apple brandy from Normandy. Recently, the Interprofession de Appellations Cidricole (IDAC) launched an expensive “Drink Calvados” marketing campaign with an early aughts indie sleaze vibe that might fit with the hot, trashy Brat Summer aesthetic we’re now experiencing.

Over the past few months, I have tasted a string of very exciting Calvados expressions from benchmark producers such as Roger Groult (18-year-old single cask), Christian Drouin (17 year-old, finished in Caroni rhum barrel) and Domaine du Coquerel (24 year-old-single cask).

But perhaps the most-awaited new bottles come from a collaboration between French spirits expert Alexandre Vingtier and importer PM Spirits. Vingtier selected three exceptional Calvados casks, a 12-year-old from Domaine Olivier, a 26-year-old from Domaine du Coquerel, and a 45-year-old from Cave Normande.

Vingtier is publisher of French rum magazine, Rumporter, and he writes for La Revue du vin de France, the leading French wine magazine. On my last trip to Cognac this winter, Vingtier and I spent an evening at his home, tasting through more than 30 brandy samples, including a dozen Calvados cask selections—a preview of what’s to come in the near future.

Born in Normandy, Vingtier insists that his native brandy ticks all the boxes that contemporary spirits geeks desire. “It's a very unique spirit,” he says. “It’s mostly sourced from small farms and distilleries, with little to no artificial fertilizers, the fruit of a very well balanced ecosystem with cow and horses living next to the trees. It's kind of the French mezcal, as some production is commercial but still a lot is family-produced for personal consumption.”

He’s convinced that Calvados is ready to be discovered by a worldwide audience. “Think mezcal in the 1990s,” says Vingtier. “Most of Calvados is not released internationally. Most small producers sell directly to consumers on their farm. So many terroirs and expressions have almost never been released. Especially single casks and cask-strength. Have even a hundred Calvados ever been bottled as single cask or cask-strength so far? I doubt it.”

Clockwise from left: Alexandre Vingtier; PM Spirits Collab Calvados; Domaine du Coquerel; Still at Cave Normande; Domaine Olivier; In the orchard; Pears at Cave Normande.

Palazzi of PM Spirits is a veteran of trying to sell expensive French brandy to Americans. But he sees something special in Calvados. “To me, Calvados is the last frontier of French brandy, as close as it gets to pure expression,” he says. “It talks to your ‘soul.’ It is not made to please anyone, it is not made to hit specific notes. It hasn't been altered by the large brands or conglomerates.”

Now is the time to jump on the Calvados bandwagon. Below are notes on nine top expressions, followed by a half-dozen value selections that are great introductions to the spirit.

Calvados Is Calling

PM Spirits Collab - Alexandre Vingtier Selections 12 year Calvados ($155)

Single cask distilled and aged at Domaine Olivier, a top producer in Domfrontais, known for its pear ciders and pear-based brandies. This 50/50 blend of apples and pears come from 30-year-old organic apple orchards and pear trees more then 200 years old. Aged 12 years in French barrique, and it delivers incredible complexity at such a young age. Dark amber, aromas of gingerbread, pineapple pastry, dark chocolate, molasses, and flavors of tropical fruit, membrillo, maple syrup, pepper, licorice, with a long nutty, balsamic, and kirsch-like finish. (47.9% abv)

PM Spirits Collab - Alexandre Vingtier Selections 26 year Calvados ($230)

Single cask distilled at Domaine du Coquerel from 95% apples and 5% pears from an orchard with 50-year-old trees. Complex nose of burnt orange peel, grilled apple, tobacco, hay, roasted nuts, with rich rancio notes throughout. On the palate it’s bold and fiery (bottled at 57.1% abv, super high for Calvados). Balanced by nuttiness and spice, as well dessert notes of tarte tatin, dates, and crème caramel, with unique, floral finish that lingers and lingers. Very distinct spirit that belies Calvados’ rustic roots.

PM Spirits Collab - Alexandre Vingtier Selections 45 year Calvados ($500)

Remarkably rare single-cask distilled at Cave Normande, made from a 50/50 blend of apple (15 varieties) and pears (12 varieties) from an orchard with trees ranging from 20 to 200 years. Nut brown in color, redolent of rancio: by turns sherry-like, rum-like, with beautiful aromas of antique furniture varnish, candied orange, and black tea. On the palate, there’s honeyed and dried fruit notes—fig, membrillo—spices and chocolate, and miles-long finish of grilled apple, almond paste, and cigar smoke. Imagine a Calvados with hair on its chest, wearing gold chain, and possibly driving a Corvette.

Roger Groult 18 Year Old ($100)

Show me an 18-year-old spirit, in any category, that offers better value than this. Expressive nose, at first full of carmelized apple, then candied citrus, then finally crisp apple peel, herbs, and autumn leaves. Silky and expansive in the mouth, balanced by juicy freshness, baking spice, and mouthwatering acidity at the midpalate. The long, earthy finish is a savory swirl of russeted apple skin, fruit leather, espresso, and wet stone that’s unique for a brandy of this age. (41% abv)

“Value” Picks Under $100

Everyone defines value differently. With prices continuing to rise, these days $60 is as low as I would go for quality Calvados—one that I would enjoy neat rather than use in a cocktail. Is $60 to $90 a value? I guess it all depends on your definition. When I look at categories like tequila, mezcal, rum, or whiskey, I’d say it’s comparable. Remember: An $80 bottle of spirits contains a little more than a dozen two-ounces pours. That’s roughly $6.67 per pour. How does that compare to what you pay for a middling spirit at your local bar?

Roger Groult 8 Year Old, Pays d’Auge, $80

This 8-year-old bottling is a reminder that Calvados doesn’t always need decades of aging. Intense nose, with baked apple, mulled spice, and sandalwood. But in the mouth it’s fresh and juicy, with ripe and crisp apple notes, and a creaminess at the midpalate. Notes of cardamom, cinnamon, and peppercorn throughout that slides into a long finish. Always a good, value introduction to Calvados. (41% abv)

Decoding Cocktails's Substack: Podcast ep. 52: Nicolas Palazzi of PM Spirits

If we wouldn't drink it, we won't sell it.

Nicolas Palazzi is an engineer turned spirits importer. Originally from Bordeaux, France, he lives in Brooklyn, where PM Spirits (named for his father, Paul-Marie Spirits) is located.

Nicolas Palazzi

I first became aware of PM via a Roffignac cocktail I had in New Orleans at Peychaud’s Bar. It was PM’s blanche armagnac named COBRAFIRE and a raspberry shrub. It was a stunning drink, and isn’t the branding fantastic?!

Cobrafire – Blanche Armagnac

One thing Nicolas discussed during our conversation that I didn’t probe for more info on is aging additives. Even though additives are generally put into something to mask an inferior product or to speed up the process, Nicolas said there are instances where additives can be a good thing. He says a great B.S. meter for additives is, does this make the overall production process more or less expensive? You can read more about additives on PM’s blog.

Want more on Nicolas and PM? Their blog #DrinkLessDrinkBetter has a piece on his story called “Bordeaux to Brooklyn.” You can also find more in Vogue, Saveur, and The Agave Social Club podcast.

Vinepair: The 50 Best Spirits of 2023

Dozens of categories considered, thousands of bottles tasted, and almost 12 months in the making, the publishing of VinePair’s 50 best spirits list marks a major milestone in our calendar and one of our favorite annual traditions.

Consider it not a bonafide buying guide — those can be found here — and instead a highlights reel of the best spirits that graced our palates this year. While we recommend picking up any and all you encounter, or ordering a pour from a bar list, the popularity of certain categories and brands, coupled with the limited nature of some of the releases, means the probability of being able to do so varies wildly from one bottle to another. One constant that links them all, however, and the reason each features on this list: It would be a spirited crime not to honor their existence.

So what made the cut? This year served us no end of imaginative and successful experiments; reminded us that stalwart go-tos carry such reputations for a reason; and encouraged us to look beyond the expected from various regions and nations. Prepare for “bog aged” oak, Mexican eau de vie, and countless representations of brown spirits from non-age-stated to cask strength, single-barrel, experimental finishings, and ultra old.

44. Cobrafire Eau de Vie de Raisin

Chances are, you probably missed the launch of the Blanche d’Armagnac (white Armagnac) appellation back in 2015, but you shouldn’t sleep on the products within the category. This 50.5 percent ABV offering from PM Spirits’ Cobrafire project dances between stone fruit brightness and umami-rich savoriness, and promises to leave a lasting impression.

34. Cinco Sentidos Espadín Capón Alberto Martinez

The “capón” technique referenced in this spirit’s name sees growers remove the sprouted stalks (quiotes) from agave, then leave the plants in the ground for extended periods to enhance sugar concentration. The wait is certainly worth it for this bright, fruity spirit, which shatters any notion that Espadín is a characterless, “workhorse” agave variety.

Everyday Drinking: Is Armagnac The New Bourbon? Or Is It The New Mezcal?

An exercise in reading beyond the headline. Plus, my picks and tasting notes on 16 bottles for your holiday splurge.

People often ask me, “What’s the difference between Cognac and Armagnac?” (Yes, I exist in incredibly nerdy spaces). To be honest, there as many similarities as differences. They’re both brandies made from grapes, often the same grapes. They’re both made in southwest France, less than three hours drive from one another. At the top end, they’re both expensive. But there are key differences, both technical and cultural. Below, I’ve posted my Armagnac 101.

More than anything, Cognac is bigger than Armagnac. Much bigger. Cognac represents a $4 billion market global market, with 225 million bottles sold each year. Meanwhile, Armagnac sells around 5 million bottles in a year. That means you don’t have huge multinational players like Hennessy or Rémy Martin in Armagnac. Instead, it’s mostly smaller family estates. Most don’t even own stills, but rely on itinerant distillers going from house to house after harvest and fermentation. There simply isn’t as much Armagnac in the world.

That scarcity and local grassroots production is why people often make this analogy: Armagnac is to Cognac what mezcal is to tequila. In the craft spirits world—where mezcal has cool, trendy, insider buzz—that’s not a bad place for Armagnac to be.

That seems to be what some in the industry are banking on. For instance, in late 2021, the venerable brand Marquis de Montesquiou, one of Armagnac’s largest producers, was bought from Pernot Ricard by Alexander Stein, the entrepreneur who created Monkey 47 Gin—which Stein had previously sold to Pernod Ricard. “He thinks Armagnac is the new mezcal,” said Jean-Francois Bonnete, the president of BCI, which imports Marquis de Montesquiou. It will be interesting to see how the brand, which has slipped in quality, will evolve under Stein.

Meanwhile, Stein isn’t the only industry bigwig who’s invested in the region. And a some of the other players don’t see Armagnac as the new mezcal. Rather, they’re banking on it being the new bourbon.

A few years ago, Raj Bhakta, one of the founders of Whistle Pig whiskey, bought the entire stock of a traditional Armagnac house, Ryst Dupeyron. In 2021, Bhakta told me that he’d “transferred the majority of it to Vermont,” where it would be finished in Islay whisky barrels. He released the blends a barrel at a time. “Technically it is Armagnac, but I’m not calling it Armagnac,” Bhakta told me at the time. Still, all of his promotional material clearly mentions Armagnac as the spirit’s place of origin.

Bkakta is clearly trying to appeal to a certain kind of American whiskey drinker, to blow them away with a 50-year age statement on the label. “The American whiskey drinking is dying for something new. He just doesn’t know it yet,” he told me in 2021. But Bkakta made clear he has little intention of educating his bourbon bros on Armagnac when he declared: “Armagnac just doesn’t have much brand value.” I mean, that’s some serious hubris there. But I guess it’s no less arrogrant than taking something a family aged for five decades in the French countryside and sticking in a Islay whiskey barrel for a few months to, ahem, “finish” it.

I’ve written before about this whiskey-fication of Armagnac. I’m very clearly on the record as saying this is not a good thing.

Nicolas Palazzi of PM Spirits, which imports a number of top Armagnacs, summed up the current market like this:

“There’s more Armagnac being sold, but it’s a very specific kind of Armagnac sold to a specific kind of buyer. We’re talking about Armagnac that’s very extracted, heavier on the wood, more powerful, more vanilla. So it’s not very different than the whiskey that people are drinking. We’re selling a lot less classical Armagnac.”

In other words: Armagnac that tastes like bourbon. Still the big question for Armagnac in the U.S. is whether or not whiskey drinkers—tired of ridiculous bourbon prices—will embrace brandies they likely can’t pronounce.

When I think and talk about Armagnac, I am a million miles away from the whiskey market. Gascony is a rustic, agricultural place of small towns that’s famous (or infamous) for the ducks and geese raised for foie gras (more than once been I’ve been served a “salad” in Gascony that was literally all meat). I posted recently about my pilgrimage to some revered small estates. Armagnac is a fragile place, and there is legitimate worry about whether it can handle becoming the new bourbon or the new mezcal.

We love the allure of drinking from decades-old barrels that a négociant—a treasure hunter—has discovered and procured from an elderly grower, or a widow. But those barrels often represent the end of a multi-generational wine-growing family. The numbers don’t lie: In 50 years, the total vineyard area of Armagnac has shrunk from 10,000 to 2,000 hectares. “This tradition is dying,” says Lili de Montal, at Château Arton, with around 40 hectares in Haut-Armagnac. “It’s not an overstatement to say it’s a disaster.”

A few weeks ago, I went to a tasting of Château de Laubade in New York, hosted by Denis Lesgourgues, whose family has run the estate for three generations. It was a small group, mostly people from the trade, and I thought Lesgourgues’ presentation was a good model for how Armagnac might move forward into an uncharted market.

Among the samples, we tasted an experimental bottling made from the rare plant de graisse grape, as well as Laubade’s new 21-year-old expression. That age statement is itself not common. “You don’t see a lot of age statements in Armagnac,” Lesgourgues said, adding: “We’ve been thinking about whiskey drinkers. The price of 21-year-old whiskey is very high. So we feel this is a chance for whiskey drinkers to try a 21-year-old Armagnac.”

I’ve known Lesgourgues for about a decade, and back in 2021, he and I had a disagreement over a Armagnac he released that was finished in Bardstown bourbon barrels. His new 21-year-old feels like a much better approach to meet the whiskey drinker with an Armagnac that’s still got the classic profile. (I recommend it below in my bottle picks).

After the tasting, everyone in attendance split into groups and we blended our own Armagnac from the 2008 vintage from aged samples of four specific grapes: ugni blanc, baco, colombard, and plant de graisse. Besides being fun (my team of course made the best blend; I got an embossed certificate!) the exercise focused attention on the raw ingredients, the grapes and the wine. It drove home to the people in attendance just how different Armagnac is from nearly any other spirit.

Seven Fifty Daily: What’s Driving the Growth of Calvados in the U.S. Market?

As Americans’ love for apples coincides with a rising appreciation for brown spirits, Calvados finds a new home in the U.S. market

Calvados is a traditional spirit dating back to 1800s France, but it’s experiencing exponential growth in the U.S. Photo Courtesy of Rogery Groulty Calvados.

In the U.S., cider is no longer enjoying the amazing growth of the past decade, but apples remain a perennial favorite among Americans. Meanwhile, the popularity of brown spirits continues unabated, expanding to embrace brandy as well. These two trends have collided to bring Calvados, France’s classic apple brandy, into more American homes and bars than ever before.

According to the Interprofession des Appellations Cidricoles (IDAC), Calvados exports to the U.S. grew 70 percent in 2021, and then repeated that feat again in 2022, making the U.S. the second largest export market for the apple brandy, after Germany. Numbers like these sometimes need to be taken with a grain of salt coming out of the topsy-turvy years of the pandemic and the global shipping crisis.

Nicolas Palazzi, the owner of PM Spirits, imports three Calvados producers, Roger Groult, Eric Bordelet, and Domaine du Tertre. According to Palazzi, importers are overstocked after bringing in extra product to protect themselves against shipping challenges, and he expects import volumes to level out. 

But Guillaume Drouin, the third-generation owner of Calvados Christian Drouin, feels the trend has legs. “Within the brandy category, apple brandy is doing very well,” says Drouin. “U.S. cider producers have started to produce apple brandy, and there are many more American apple brandies on the shelf than even just five years ago. Calvados is the historical apple brandy of the world, so hopefully it’s taking part in that trend.” 

On this point Palazzi agrees, noting that American drinkers have typically heard of the U.S. apple distillate Applejack at the very minimum. “Calvados, being the big brother of Applejack, being more complex by design, and being from a region where the name signifies something in terms of history, means it’s not as hard to sell when you already have that frame of reference.”

Indeed, the data suggests that this confluence of trends is driving a new wave of interest in Calvados among U.S. consumers and professionals alike.

From the Orchard to the Bottle

Normandy’s Calvados is one of the three classic brandies of France, alongside Cognac and Armagnac; it’s also the only one not made from grapes. The region’s history of producing apple- and pear-based spirits extends back at least five centuries, and the name Calvados came into use after the French Revolution. Production methods were formalized by the end of the nineteenth century, around the same time that Calvados rose in popularity across France, while its grape-based competitors struggled with the effects of phylloxera.

To make Calvados, apples are harvested and vinified as cider without any additions of gas, acid, or sugar, and the cider is then distilled and aged in wooden casks. A mix of apple types are permitted, but at least 70 percent must be bitter or bittersweet apples, and the rest classified as sharp or sweet; all are apple varieties that would otherwise be inedible to human palates.

Owner of Calvados Christian Drouin, Guillaume Drouin (pictured above) believes the sudden interest in Calvados spirits has staying power in the U.S. Photo courtesy of Calvados Christian Drouin.

The traditional Calvados orchard is planted with tall, high-stem trees, with fewer than 300 trees per hectare. Modern orchards are more densely planted with smaller, low-stem trees that are easy to manage and higher yielding, but are more work intensive. High-stem vineyards allow for cow pasturing and other uses among the trees. Many leading producers favor high-stem vineyards, and some use them exclusively.

Types of Calvados

Today, Calvados is made under three different appellations spread across Normandy and dipping occasionally into neighboring departments. The largest, Calvados AOC, makes up 70 percent of production, and is typically distilled in a column still; 35 percent of the apples must come from high-stem vineyards and the spirit must be aged for a minimum of two years. The Calvados Pays d’Auge is the oldest AOC, created in 1942. It’s a smaller area, has the same aging requirements, but is more stringent regarding apple sources, 45 percent of which must come from high-stem orchards. Calvados Pays d’Auge, uniquely, must also be double distilled in a pot still. While other Calvados can have substantial amounts of pears used in their production, Pays d’Auge limits pears to 30 percent of the fruit used.

In contrast, the newer, more southerly Calvados Domfrontais AOC, created in 1997, requires a minimum of 30 percent pears; the area is dominated by high-stem pear orchards. Calvados Domfrontais is produced using a column still and must age for at least three years before bottling; despite the longer aging requirements, the column still and high pear content typically yields a fresher, lighter style of Calvados.

All the Calvados appellations are open-minded regarding labeling rules, allowing age and quality statements on products that meet the given requirements. There is enough room within the regulations for producers to offer specialty products, so Calvados is able to keep up with trends found among other brown spirits. For example, Calvados can be aged in different types of vessels, such as older barrels left over from a previous generation, and bottled separately.

Christian Drouin has collaborated with distilleries such as Hine Cognac, Calle 23 Tequila, and Caroni Rum to use their barrels to finish Drouin Calvados bottlings. Drouin, Groult, and others have stepped outside the Calvados appellation to produce unaged apple brandies as well. Some producers have also introduced cask strength Calvados, bottled without being reduced back to 40 percent alcohol.

Small Producers, Small Environmental Impact

Compared to other French brandies, Calvados is well-suited to fit in with the craft ethos of America’s brandy scene, with a wide range of medium and small producers. “Calvados is still a very craft category,” says Drouin. “Even the bigger Calvados producers are very small compared to the Cognac or whiskey industry.” Calvados overall includes 8,000 hectares of orchards, making it just over a tenth the size of Cognac. Nonetheless, Calvados includes about three hundred producers, a greater number than in the more famous grape brandy region.

Drouin says Calvados’s green credentials also deserve to be better known. “We examined the carbon footprint of our company, and we calculated that every time we produce a bottle of Calvados, the equivalent of three kilos of CO2 is absorbed,” says Drouin. “So it’s probably the only spirit in the world which can show, without any effort, a negative carbon footprint.” According to the IDAC, Calvados orchards on average sequester 35 to 50 tons of carbon per hectare over a 25-year period, and the orchards also provide four times the habitat for bees and other pollinators than other field crops. 

Calvados is also seamlessly sustainable, requiring very little in the way of reducing the carbon footprint of the spirit’s production. Photo courtesy of Roger Groult Calvados.

That footprint is tied to the small volume produced per hectare—about one quarter that of grape brandy—and the biodiversity in the orchards, with cows grazing on the grass beneath the trees. In addition, the traditional, tall-tree orchards require no spraying. Workers visit the vineyards for pruning and harvesting, but little else; it’s very minimal interference compared to grain fields or vineyards, where tractors might pass through on a weekly basis. “It’s nothing new,” says Drouin. “It’s historical. We just have a protected way of production that’s sustainable.”

Calvados and American Cocktail Culture 

While the pandemic spurred more off-premise purchases of Calvados, Drouin says 70 percent of their sales go to on-premise outlets. Leanne Favre, the creative director of Leyenda and Clover Club in Brooklyn, says that as a spirits geek she enjoys Calvados neat at home, but that sales in the two bars are mostly in the form of cocktails. “It’s getting a lot more showtime in cocktails and on menus than I’ve ever seen before,” she says.

Favre adds that the wide range of styles available, from lighter, fresher examples to more aged expressions, means Calvados has a lot of different uses today, and needn’t be confined to autumnal, seasonal drinks. “It’s amazing how much range Calvados can bring to your menu when you start including it.”

More and more Calvados producers have been visiting the U.S. market and promoting their spirits, and Favre praises the Calvados industry for recent initiatives that have helped highlight the variety the category can offer. “You had forty different producers banding together; it really showed how dynamic the category can be, just like Mezcal,” she says. “It’s really worth it to try different producers and expressions.”

How Cocktails Are Helping Armagnac Reinvent Its Image For A New Generation

La Boutique Des Vins in Toulouse’s historic Carmes neighborhood is one of the more popular spots for local residents to browse for just the right wine or spirit, maybe even a craft beer. On a quiet Friday evening when store traffic was still sparse, Noémie Cassou-Lalanne arrived in the hopes of convincing customers to reconsider a traditional spirit that might only rarely be on their shopping list.

Surrounded by a nook of shelves filled with wine bottles, teas, and chocolate bars, Cassou-Lalanne set up a small table and a silver tray with three bottles of Armagnac from the Pellehaut domaine in the Gascony region where she’s in charge of marketing. She then improvised a small bartending station, complete with cutting board, mint leaves, a pestle, tiny umbrellas, ice cubs, and simple syrup to make Armagnac Mojitos.This reimagined cocktail used two types of Armagnac that this artisanal industry hopes will revitalize the image of France’s oldest eau de vie. The first, L’Age de Glace Château de Pellehaut, is a light-brown blend of Armagnacs that have spent little time aging a barrel. The other is Blanche Armagnac, a clear white spirit that has not been aged.

Queen Snake - Shannon Tebay, Death & Co.

INGREDIENTS

Serving: 1

• 1 1/2 ounces blanche de armagnac, preferably Cobra Fire Eau de Vie de Raisin

• 1/2 ounce Clear Creek Douglas Fir Eau de Vie

• 2 teaspoons lychee liqueur, preferably Giffard Lichi Li Lychee Liqueur

• 1 teaspoon crème de cacao, preferably Marie Brizard

• 1 lime shoulder

DIRECTIONS

1. Express lime, leave in bottom of a Sazerac glass.

2. Combine all ingredients and stir to integrate.

3. Top with cracked ice.
   
   

Claire de Montesquiou plunged into Armagnac 30 years ago with her husband after living in England. They bought Domaine D’Espérance and began to restore its vineyards. They believed the clay soil on the far western part of the official Armagnac region would yield high-quality grapes. Three decades later, they’ve developed a strong international reputation while also staying small. “I make small quantities of high quality,” she said. “It’s like if you wanted to compare haute couture to ready-to-wear.”

She’s also brought a willingness to experiment. Several years ago, she connected with Nicolas Palazzi, a Bordeaux native who had moved to New York City where he worked as an importer and brand ambassador. Palazzi was passionate about Armagnac, but he felt it was too complicated to explain to bartenders and potential customers. “The fact that it’s called Blanche Armagnac makes it really hard to sell in my world,” he said.

Cobrafire, eau-de-vie raisin

He worked with de Montesquiou to create a product called Cobrafire. Rather than sitting in a still container for 3 months and having water added, the Armagnac is distilled at a lower alcohol rate, bottled after one month, and then sold as an “eau-de-vie raisin.” 

“I’m a big proponent of putting stuff in a bottle at its natural proof,” Palazzi said. “If you try it and you like it, and then you need to add water to it, then you can do it. But it’s not someone in a lab deciding for you.”

It’s a sharp break with tradition. But Palazzi said Armagnac makers need to take some chances if their product is going to reach a wider audience.

“What we’re trying to do with Cobrafire is to reframe things so that people are interested,” Palazzi said. “We’re trying to sell something really good. I want to let people discover the work of distillers who really care about their stuff.”

What is Armagnac? Exploring Cognac’s Older Cousin

How Armagnac is Made

“Essentially, Cognac is more like Tequila, and Armagnac is more like mezcal in the way it’s produced,” says Nicolas Palazzi, owner of importer and distributor, PM Spirits, “but not in flavor [although it can occasionally share similar notes with the agave spirit].” Armagnac is a bit more artisanal in nature, and every producer creates a product to their own proof and style making it a fan favorite for spirit nerds.

Armagnac is allowed to use 10 grape varieties in production, but typically only use four: Ugni blanc, Baco, Folle Blanche, and Colombard; whereas in Cognac they use around 99% Ugni blanc. More variety in the raw material allows for Armagnac to express a diversity in flavor that Cognac cannot. When you also consider the terroir — the soil, climate, and hand of the maker — Armagnac truly distinguishes itself in character.

“There is something really interesting in picking grapes and making a product that has a true personality and seeing that product at a stage where it hasn’t become a very popular spirit [like Cognac] that has been modified to try to appeal to the general public,” says Palazzi. “Armagnac is very terroir-driven, it feels like you can connect with the history of the land and its rich history.”

In terms of distillation, 95% of Armagnac production is distilled with an alembic column still, whereas Cognac has to be pot-distilled, Palazzi notes. “Some are using pot still as well,” he says, although it’s a rarity.

After being distilled, the liquid is typically aged in 400-liter French oak casks — typically local, Gascony oak — and is then classified as VS, VSOP, Napoleón, or XO (Hors d’âge), depending on how long it has been aged for, with XO being the oldest age statement meaning the distillate has seen a minimum of 10 years in the cask. It’s also common for Armagnac producers to release vintages, like wine, but this will be more of a rarity as the category continues to rise in popularity.

After aging, the Armagnac is either bottled at cask strength, or proofed down. “The reason why Cognac is typically 40% ABV is to stretch out the amount they’re able to produce because of the demand,” Palazzi notes. “In Armagnac, you’ll find more full-proof bottling because they aren’t under the pressure of hitting numbers so they can focus on creating the best product possible [regardless of proof].” This means that each bottle will have its own distinct character, which isn’t always the case with other brandies.

Some producers to note are: Domaine Boignères, Château de Pellehaut, Domaine Espérance, Domaine d’Aurensan, but there are many others creating exceptional brandies as well in the region.

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Cobrafire Eau-de-Vie de Raisin

An unaged blanche (white) Armagnac produced in the Bas Armagnac sub-appellation. It’s an undiluted, unadulterated expression of exactly what a French brandy should taste like. At 51.5% ABV, it’s also begging to make it into your next Martini.

PM Spirits VS Bas Armagnac Overproof

Importer PM Spirits teamed up with renown production house, Domaine Espérance, to release their own label of VS overproof (51.7% ABV) Armagnac. For the price you’ll pay, it’s an absolute steal and must-try.