Armagnac ◆

Armagnac

What it is

Baco 22A is a hybrid, crossed at the end of the nineteenth century in the wake of phylloxera, and Armagnac is the one French appellation still allowed to keep a hybrid in the vineyard. A single low-strength run through the alambic armagnacais leaves in the heavy aromatics that a second distillation would strip, which is why it reads as prune and violet where Cognac reads as flowers.

In the kitchen

Those extra congeners survive heat, so it holds where Cognac vanishes: a spoonful worked into the forcemeat of a duck or pork terrine before it goes into the mould, or poured over prunes left to swell overnight. Do not flambe the old bottles - the wood is what you paid for, and the flame takes it first.

Goes with

Prune Foie gras Duck Duck breast Walnut Dark chocolate Pork Pear

Same species

Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale DOP Amontillado Banyuls Brandy de Jerez Champagne vinegar Cognac

Also used with

Woodcock Snipe Mulard duck Stuffed duck neck Floc de Gascogne Wood pigeon

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