What are the Armagnac regions?

Armagnac has three regions with their own name on the label: Bas-Armagnac, Armagnac-Ténèrèze and Haut-Armagnac.

The BNIA describes Bas-Armagnac as the area of sandy-loam soils, the sables fauves. Armagnac-Ténarèze lies on boulbènes and calcareous clay soil. In Haut-Armagnac the limestone comes close to the surface; according to the BNIA only a small part of the vineyard is there. All three names appear in the same cahier des charges of the INAO, together with the designation Blanche Armagnac.

The Armagnac area lies in three French departments: the Gers, the Landes and the Lot-et-Garonne, in the south-west of France.

The cahier des charges names 245 municipalities in the Gers, 29 in the Landes and 18 in the Lot-et-Garonne, each by name. The Gers is thus the core area. This region is called Gascony; the town of Éauze is regarded as the trading centre of armagnac.

The name of a region may appear on the bottle if the eau-de-vie meets the part of the cahier des charges that belongs to that region.

If the label says only Armagnac, the region is not specified and the contents can come from the whole area. In practice you see Bas-Armagnac most often on a bottle, because the largest part of the vineyard is there.

Blanche Armagnac is armagnac that has not been in oak and therefore stays clear.

The cahier des charges prescribes that Blanche Armagnac rests at least three months in an inert vessel, counted from distillation. Other armagnac must lie at least a year under oak, counted from 1 April after the harvest. Blanche Armagnac is therefore the only form in which the wood plays no role.

The BNIA attaches its own character to each region, but the classification says nothing about the age or quality of a bottle.

In the words of the BNIA, Bas-Armagnac yields eaux-de-vie that are délicates et très fruitées, and Armagnac-Ténarèze more often gives puissants et corsés. That is the description of the trade association, not our own judgement: which bottle suits you depends mostly on age, cask and grapes. Come by at Brink 2, and we will walk along the shelf together.

Armagnac must have at least 40 percent alcohol by volume when sold.

That is laid down in the cahier des charges of the AOC and lies above the European minimum for wine eau-de-vie in Regulation (EU) 2019/787. Bottles at cask strength are well above it; they always state the percentage on the label.