Chateau de Laubade AOP - Bas Armagnac Intemporel No 5 Laubade 70 cl 40%

Armagnac name: Château de Laubade AOP Bas Armagnac Intemporel No. 5
Age: NA
Type: Bas Armagnac
Alc. strength: 40 %
70 cl.
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Timeless No. 5 is a very old armagnac, primarily produced from the Baco grape.

Taste comments
Big, rich, peppery, spicy and lightly smoky Armagnac that sets completely new standards for how good Armagnac can taste.


Since the beginning of the 18th century, Château de Laubaude has been making armagnac of the highest quality, and already in 1855 it was given the status of Château Appellation Contrôlée. Unfortunately, a long period of decline followed, during which both Armagnac and castle were neglected. Jean-Jacques Lesgourgues bought the dilapidated château in 1974 with the clear vision of thoroughly restoring everything and raising Armagnac to its former glory.

The project has largely succeeded in this relatively short period, because Château de Laubade is today not only among the largest, but also the absolute best properties in Armagnac.
Single estate wine for Laubade Armagnac is produced on 260 hectares of land. The fields are planted with 47% Ugni Blanc, Baco 22a 30%, Folle Blanche 8% and Colombard 15%.
Château de Laubade has the largest production of the fantastic Baco grape, which gives Armagnac a very special peppery spiciness and smoke.
The castle is also the only Armagnac producer that has its own distillery. For this, the best Gascogne wood is selected from nearby forests, which is air-dried for no less than three years before it is built into barrels for storing Armagnac.

These are perhaps some of the reasons why Château de Laubade is the only armagnac house that has been named World Class Distillery by the World Spirits Award three years in a row (2010, 2011 and 2012). In the castle's Timeless No. 5 was named the World's Best Brandy in 2007 at the San Francisco Worlds Spirits.
Taste comments

The Armagnac region is located in Gascony in southwestern France. Unlike the Cognac district, Armagnac has neither access to navigable rivers nor long-standing traditions of trade with the outside world – a very clear obstacle to achieving the same fame or the same price level as the distillates from the Cognac region, although the best Armagnacs often have a deeper and better integrated sweetness and can be bought at a fraction of the price of cognac.

Distilling has been taking place in the Armagnac district since the 15th century, which actually makes Armagnac the oldest distillate in France. The area experienced its heyday at the beginning of the 18th century, when the best Armagnacs were as sought after as the greatest French wines. The heyday ended abruptly with the attack of the dreaded vine louse, phylloxera, at the end of the 19th century. Subsequently, the district was plagued by the depression of the 1930s, and when it was finally thought that one should really rise after the 2nd World War and 6 years of German occupation and looting, it was in the form of young cheap distillers who competed on price and absolutely not quality. The reputation has since hampered the district, and despite the many, very fine vintage bottlings on the market today, the district has never managed to fully recover.

The Armagnac area can be divided into three production zones:
Bas Armagnac, also recognized as the best of the three areas, Haut Armagnac and Ténarèze.
The areas are mainly planted with Ugni Blanc, Colombard and Folle Blanche, which after harvest are first pressed and then distilled once or twice, depending on the choice of method.
Some Armagnac producers distill the must twice as in Cognac, but most use the traditional method in a special Armagnac still, also called "alambic". In principle, an alembic distills as something in between pot-still and continuous distillation – it is a kind of double boiler, where the must is distilled only once (façon continuous), which gives a lower alcohol strength of just over 50% compared to the normal approx. 70%

However, the lower strength means that the liquid contains more flavors and therefore seems more powerful when young.
The young brandy is poured directly into oak barrels, where it stores and absorbs tannic acid and aromatic components from the wood. To get a more harmonious product, brandy of different origin and age is mixed. Since armagnac can only hold 40%, the alcohol percentage can be reduced by adding "les petits eaux", which is a mixture of armagnac and distilled water.