Alcademics

This fall I visited 12 armagnac houses in France. Some produce armagnac by blending aged eau de vie, some buy eau de vie and age it, some distill and age, some make wine, distill, and age, and some do all of it. 

De Montal is produced by a coop of grape growers called CPG for Compagnie des Produits de Gascogne, located in Nogaro. De Montal is a brand they make produced for the export market. The company is made of 60 members, all grape growers in the Bas Armagnac region. 

Distilling at De Montal

The facility is a huge operation and they make a lot of table wine. The still room is pretty big as well, with three continuous armagnac stills named Athos, Porthos and Aramis for the three musketeers, with a bust of D'Artagnan watching over them. 

This year they were producing 5000 hectoliters of spirit. They distill the spirit up to 61-62% ABV in their stills for all their brands made on-site. 

They say there is no law about the size of barrels in armagnac, unlike in tequila for example. Thus their 3 stars is aged all in big vats rather than barrels. 

Here are some notes on stuff I tried, I believe all at 40% ABV:

• 3 Stars: Ages in huge barrels, never typical 400L armagnac barrels. 3 stars has the same age statement as VS but is typically of lower quality and used for cooking. 
• VS: May age a bit in small barrels but mostly in large vats
• VSOP: 7-8 years, tastes like cognac
• XO: Around 15 years old: honey/cinnamon toast, woody
• 1995 vintage: similar notes
• 1985: buttery, more fruit, forest herbs, tastes more like armagnac
• 1975: herbs in honey, very good