Baron Gaston Legrand 1958 Vintage Appellation Bas Armagnac Controlee 40%

Whoever pruned the vines in 1958 is no longer here. The cask was filled, marked up and pushed into place, and since then it has looked after itself in a dark room in Gascony. Time has done the rest of the work.

The expert's description

Baron Gaston Legrand 1958 Vintage Appellation Bas Armagnac Controlee 40% is a Vintage Bas Armagnac from Gascony in south-west France, single distilled on an alambic armagnacais, matured in black oak casks and bottled at 40%.

The 1958 vintage belongs to Baron Gaston Legrand, a series of single vintages from Bas Armagnac owned and bottled by Lhéraud, a French house dating from 1680. The grapes are Ugni Blanc, Folle Blanche and Colombard from the western part of the appellation.

Distillation takes place once, on an alambic armagnacais, at a strength low enough for the grape to carry over. That is why old Armagnac has a body and a fruitiness a twice-distilled spirit rarely reaches.

After distillation the spirit goes into new black oak casks of between 700 and 1200 litres, where tannins and dry timber notes are drawn out of the fresh wood. It is then moved to older casks, and everything settles down there until bottling. A wooden case, a spare stopper and a canvas bag come with it.

Tasting notes

Nose

Baked apple and plum first, dense and ripe. Underneath sit hazelnut and a dark vanilla, and right at the back a breath of dry wood and a little pepper.

Palate

Full and round. The plum carries on, the nuts grow stronger, and a dry spiced tone edges in halfway through, leaning towards black pepper. The fruit holds all the way.

Finish

Dry and peppery with the wood out front. The nuts follow it a long way, and at the very end a small fruit sweetness closes it off neatly.

Specifications

Name: Baron Gaston Legrand 1958 Vintage Appellation Bas Armagnac Controlee 40%
Bottler: Lhéraud
Region/Country: Bas Armagnac, Gascony, France
Type: Vintage Bas Armagnac
ABV: 40%
Size: 70 CL
Cask type: Black oak casks of 700-1200 litres
Distillation method: Single distilled on an alambic armagnacais
Distilled: 1958
Edition: Baron Gaston Legrand Vintage 1958

Flavour profile

Fruity · Spicy · Nutty · Oak · Round

Investment potential

Medium. A single vintage from the end of the 1950s slips quietly off the shelves, and it will never go back into production.

Did you know?

Folle Blanche was once the backbone grape of Gascony, but it is delicate and prone to disease, and much of the planting was lost after the phylloxera outbreak. It still goes into the Baron Gaston Legrand series, though on a far smaller scale than before.

See our full range of Armagnac

Frequently asked questions about Baron Gaston Legrand 1958 Vintage Appellation Bas Armagnac Controlee 40%

Why is an Armagnac from 1958 hard to get hold of?

Because no more of it is being made. The vintage was distilled once, laid down in cask and bottled gradually, and every cask emptied is gone for good. Old vintages from Bas Armagnac are therefore among the hardest things to source in French spirits.

Is it worth putting away as an investment?

The potential is rated Medium. The age, the closed vintage and Bas Armagnac's reputation as the finest area of the appellation are what carry the value over time. Nothing is guaranteed, but supply only moves in one direction.

Does Armagnac keep developing in the bottle?

No. Development stops the day the spirit leaves the cask. A bottle from 1958 tastes today as it did at bottling, provided the stopper has stayed tight and the bottle has been kept dark and cool.

What do the black oak casks do to the flavour?

They deliver tannins, dry timber notes and, with time, the soft rounding. The first years on new wood are the most marked, after which the older casks take over and the exchange falls to almost nothing. That is where the long, quiet maturation happens.

Should it get air in the glass first?

Yes, give it at least ten minutes. A spirit with decades in cask opens slowly, and for the first few minutes the alcohol sits further forward than the fruit. Turn the glass gently and let your nose settle into it.

Why is Armagnac distilled only once?

Because the low distillation strength is the style itself. One pass through an alambic armagnacais lets more of the grape's heavy aroma compounds carry over, and those compounds are exactly the ones that turn into nuts, dried fruit and spice after many years in cask. At the Cognac Houses and Distilleries the spirit goes the other way, with two passes in a pot still and a cleaner, lighter result.