Baron de Sigognac Bas Armagnac

Gascony after dark. A column still almost a hundred years old runs through the night, slowly turning wine from the Bordeneuve vineyards into fire and oak. Baron de Sigognac is Bas Armagnac from a family that has lived in this corner of France since the 12th century. It is also one of the very few houses where you can find a vintage from almost any year of the last century.

Chateau de Laubade 12 Years Intemporel Bas Armagnac 70 cl 40%

Item no.: 22212786593-101

Twelve years is enough time for a young, fruit-driven Armagnac to grow round and thoughtful, without yet reaching the almost meditative depth of the house's oldest bottles. Intemporel 12 Year Old is the balance point in between.
Expert's Description
Château de Laubade 12 Year Old Intemporel is a French Bas-Armagnac, matured for a minimum of 12 years, bottled at 40%.
Château de Laubade has made Armagnac since the early 1700s and was restored in 1974 by Jean-Jacques Lesgourgues, who raised the estate to become one of the most respected in the entire Armagnac region, named World Class Distillery at the World Spirits Award three years running.
The Intemporel range is the house's flagship, and the 12 year old edition represents the point where the young fruitiness of the Signature expression has truly begun to merge with the cask's spice and caramel.
The oak casks used for maturation come from the house's own cooperage, where Gascony oak is air-dried for at least three years before being built into barrels, a process unique to Château de Laubade in the entire district.
Tasting Notes
Nose
Dried fruit, vanilla and a light touch of spice.
Palate
Round and full, with notes of caramel, prune and toasted oak.
Finish
Elegant and well-balanced, with a warm, lingering close.
Specifications
Name: Château de Laubade 12 Year Old Intemporel
Distillery: Château de Laubade
Country: France
Type: French Bas-Armagnac
Age: Minimum 12 years
ABV: 40%
Size: 70 CL
Cask type: French Oak, Gascony
EAN no.: 3270310118338
Serving suggestion: Enjoy as a digestif or with dark chocolate
Flavour Profile
Caramel · Prune · Toasted Oak · Vanilla
Did You Know?
Château de Laubade has won the title World Class Distillery at the World Spirits Award three years running, in 2010, 2011 and 2012, an achievement no other Armagnac house in the district has matched.
1pcs.
80,25EUR

About Baron de Sigognac

If Cognac is the older brother in a well-cut suit, Armagnac is the cousin from the countryside. He has soil under his fingernails and a lot more character. Baron de Sigognac sits right in that space. The brand belongs to Château de Bordeneuve in Bas-Armagnac, widely considered the finest part of the appellation. Here almost the whole harvest goes into brandy rather than wine, which is unusual in the region.

For collectors, it's all about the vintages. The house holds one of the deepest stocks of vintage Armagnac on the market, with bottles going back many decades. That has made Sigognac the obvious place to look when you need a bottle from a specific birth year. For everyday drinking there are also VS, VSOP and age statements like 10 and 20 years, and they're a good place to start.

History and background

The Guasch family has lived in Gascony since the 12th century, and parts of the cellar at Bordeneuve date back to the 1200s. In 1974 the family started distilling on the estate. Since then it has become one of the bigger names in the area, without trading in either the still or the craft. Today Jean-Claude Guasch and his son Thomas run everything from vineyard to bottling. Jean-Claude still makes the blends himself.

Production and style

Bordeneuve has around 60 hectares of vines. Roughly three quarters are Ugni Blanc and the rest Baco, planted in fine sandy clay with patches of iron. The wine is distilled on its lees in a traditional Armagnac alembic, a short column still that runs day and night during the season. The spirit comes off at just 55-58 percent, low enough to keep the fruit and body. Each year's spirit is aged separately in oak, only 50-60 casks a year, before it is either blended or bottled as a vintage.

Signature style

Rich & Fruity · Oak & Spice · Dried Fruit

The younger bottlings are soft and warm, with vanilla, cinnamon, candied orange and a touch of almond. With age it moves towards prunes, violets and darker oak spice, and the old vintages get that dry, leathery depth that only decades in cask can give. Rustic, but never rough.

Facts

House	Château de Bordeneuve
Distilling on the estate since	1974
Pronounced	ba-RONG duh seen-yon-YAK
Cru	Bas-Armagnac
Region	Gers, Gascony
Country	France
Owner	The Guasch family
Grape varieties	Ugni Blanc and Baco
Vineyards	Approx. 60 hectares
Distillation	Armagnac alembic (column still)
Age classes	VS, VSOP, XO, age statements and vintages
Official website	chateau-bordeneuve.com

For the collector

Collectors come for the vintages. A bottle from an exact birth year or wedding year is a gift that hits the mark, and at Sigognac you can go a long way back. The oldest bottlings, such as the 70-year-old Heritage, sell for over 1,000 euros direct from the house.

Did you know?

The name comes from a novel. Baron de Sigognac is the hero of Théophile Gautier's Capitaine Fracasse from 1863, a penniless Gascon nobleman who sets off with a troupe of travelling actors. So the brand borrowed its name from Gascony's most famous fictional hero.

Like Baron de Sigognac?

Then you might also enjoy Château de Laubade, Castarède and Baron Gaston Legrand.

Baron de Sigognac Bas Armagnac

Expert's Description

Tasting Notes

Nose

Palate

Finish

Specifications

Flavour Profile

Did You Know?