One Hundred and Fourteen Years... Once in a Lifetime...

armagnac

The Armagnacs from Laubade are considered to be part of the finest Armagnacs produced. Familly owned and made, their Armagnac is coming from a single vineyard attached to the Chateau. All of the grapes used are from their own production. Here we are speaking about Armagnac that has been made in 1893 (harvest) and then aged in oak barrels for... 114 years...

The full report can be found at http://www.whiskyfun.com/

Laubade 1893/2007 (40%, OB, Armagnac) This is 113 or 114 years old! No demijohns have been involved. ‘Simple’ armagnac again, by Laubade. What happened in 1893? Well, Mao Zedong was born. Colour: brown. Touchy… Nose: oh, this is different again. This time it’s all things from some forests that we have, mushrooms, fir needles, moss, fern, bark, mud, dead leaves, last year’s chestnuts, then quite some eucalyptus – quite amazingly, we haven’t found that much eucalyptus in the other ones, while that’s usually what comes with very old wood. There’s also some old pu-erh tea, with its very earthy side, Havana cigars, a little myrtle… I’m not sure this isn’t the most complex one so far. And between us, it could have been some great very old Scotch malt – older than what our friends have ever bottled. Highland Park? Stromness? I’m joking… Mouth: an incredible miracle. I was sure, after the nose, that this one would have gotten flat and woody. Not so. Sure it’s lost a bit of body, but some dried fruits and some jams are guarding this temple. Marmalade, candied angelica, kumquats, then rather ripe peaches – which is amazing, we usually rather find that in young armagnacs or cognacs – and even melons. This, is glorious. We could write pages about it, but I don’t want to bore you to death. Vicariousness has its limits. Finish: but what’s this miracle? Even the finish is pretty long. Honey, marmalade, jams, dried fruits… What’s also worth noticing with all these old armagnacs, is that contrarily to Scotch, they never give you too much cloves/cinnamon/pepper in the finishes and aftertastes. I don’t know why… Better seasoned oak? French oak? (it is French oak for sure, but that shouldn’t make the spirit less spicy)… I really don’t know… Any clues? It’s even got a fabulous earthiness. Comments: exceptional.

We proud ourselves that Armagnac Laubade 1893 is most probably only available in Hong Kong at Chez Raymond De Paris.

Let yourself enjoy a Once in a lifetime delicacy...