The autumn of 1938 brought the last quiet harvest in Gascogne before everything changed. The baskets were carried in as they always had been, the juice was fermented and distilled, and the rest was left to the wood. That calm is still what sits in the glass.
The expert's description
Baron Gaston Legrand 1938 Vintage Appellation Bas Armagnac Controlee 40% is a Vintage Bas Armagnac from the 1938 harvest, single distilled in an alambic armagnacais, matured in black oak casks and bottled at 40%.
Behind the label stands Lhéraud, a French house making spirits since 1680, today the owner and bottler of the whole Baron Gaston Legrand range. Each bottle holds one single vintage, and years are never blended together.
The grapes come from Bas Armagnac, the westernmost part of Armagnac in Gascogne, where sandy soil yields lighter and more aromatic spirit than the ground further east. Ugni Blanc, Folle Blanche and Colombard are the varieties behind the bottle.
Distillation happens once, on the alambic armagnacais, the traditional armagnac column. That single pass is why young Armagnac tastes bolder than young Cognac, and why it can carry decades in cask without thinning out.
The spirit first rests in new black oak casks of between 700 and 1200 litres, taking on tannin and dry timber notes. It then moves to older casks, where maturation turns calm and harmonious and continues right up to bottling. The bottle arrives in a wooden box with a spare stopper and a canvas bag.
Tasting notes
Nose
Dried apricot and candied orange peel on top, hazelnut underneath. There is an oily, almost waxy note from the old wood, and a puff of cinnamon that comes and goes.
Palate
Soft and dry at once. Nuts, dried fruit and a dark honeyed tone, followed by spice and a dry wooden edge. The alcohol takes up no room, it simply carries.
Finish
Dry and persistent. Orange peel and walnut at the close, with a fine bitterness from the oak that releases slowly.
Specifications
Name: Baron Gaston Legrand 1938 Vintage Appellation Bas Armagnac Controlee 40%
Bottler: Lhéraud
Region/Country: Bas Armagnac, Gascogne, France
Type: Vintage Bas Armagnac
ABV: 40%
Size: 70 CL
Cask type: Black oak casks of 700-1200 litres
Distillation method: Single distilled in an alambic armagnacais
Distilled: 1938
Edition: Vintage 1938
Flavour profile
Dried fruit · Nuts · Orange peel · Spiced · Soft
Investment potential
High. The vintage cannot be remade, and pre-war Bas Armagnac survives in ever fewer bottles. The age in cask and Lhéraud's reputation as a house make 1938 a bottle that cannot be replaced once it has been drunk.
Did you know?
Lhéraud, which owns and bottles Baron Gaston Legrand, has been making spirits in France since 1680. That makes the house older than most of the names you meet on the shelf today.
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