Armagnac, What is it?
A. Armagnac may not be as well known as its bigger brother, Cognac, throughout the world of brandy drinkers but but among afficionados it is appreciated for its greater sophistication and subtleness. Indeed, someone once said : “Cognac is like a fresh young girl, but armagnac is like a woman of a certain age that you do not wish to take home to meet your mother.” There is a hint too of romanticism about Armagnac. It is part of the world of Gascony, which also gave birth to those great adventurers of French literature, d’Artagnan and the three musketeers, who have captured the imagination of many generations even outside France, and – inevitably – Hollywood. One reason for the relative obscurity of Armagnac is perhaps that with one exception it is still produced by myriad small `chais’ which do not have the resources to commercialise it in the same way as the big names of Cognac. One of the principal differences between Armagnac and Cognac is the system of distillation, the Alhambic.
