Armagnac

Slow but positive growth

The little, though actually older, brother of Cognac, has been made for over 500 years in the heart of Gascony, home of D’Artagnan, foie gras and other enlarged livers, human as well as animal.

Unfortunately the Armagnacais have never shown the trading instincts which served the Cognacais so well, and had far worse access to the sea. In recent decades, growers have also found an easier outlet for their wines – usually made from Colombard – in supermarkets in France and also in Britain.

This naturally discouraged the production of a spirit which requires greater ageing than Cognac to show any sort of quality.  This is because the special continuous stills traditionally used produced brandies at a mere 55 degrees, as against the 70 degrees of newly-distilled Cognac and, therefore, containing far more of the delicious, albeit headache-inducing, congeners.

Worse, the region’s reputation has suffered because after both world wars sales concentrated on cheap, young, inferior brandies.  In the 1970s the region received a temporary boost when major Cognac firms bought up some of the local firms (and introduced their own pot stills) but nevertheless, they soon abandoned the region.

As a result, production is largely confined to the Bas Armagnac just inland from the Landes forests, while the other two areas, the Ténarèze and, even more, the Haut Armagnac in the east of the region, are now largely brandy-free zones.

Overall sales are still declining – in 2002-3 the region distilled enough brandy to fill fewer than 5m bottles.  Unfortunately, the French market, which accounts for 2.4m bottles is dominated by ultra-cheapos sold through supermarkets, many under three years old (unfortunately Armagnac which requires greater ageing than Cognac can be sold even younger).

By contrast, there has been a welcome increase recently in the quality – and therefore profitability levels of exports which took only 1.8m bottles. Those of VSOPish quality now account for over a half of the total, even in notoriously un-quality conscious markets like Germany, while Russia is proving a serious a prospect for Cognac.