Alfred Dubois-Lizée is a brand with almost two hundred years of history. We hadn’t heard of the brand, but some extra information is found in this article. Apparently the brand has been revived and is now owned by Jack Tar, the Polish company that surprised us with a couple of great whisky bottlings, rums and cognacs in the past few years.
In 2022 they released a Retrouvé Animé series of four very old armagnacs, from 1973 all the way back to the 1934 vintage. Early this year a second series with four new expressions has been released: D’Artagnan, Louis, Leon, Marcel.
It is a little weird that they mention the age in years (e.g. 49 years old for the 1973 vintage) as if they had matured full-time in wood. On the other hand they clearly state that each bottle comes from a single dame jeanne, and I thought time in glass doesn’t count?
The entire set costs € 1900. Normally I would insert a link to the Jack Tar website here, but every time I go to the page of this series, my browser opens a pop-up with a bunch of indecent pictures or phishing stuff. Close the backdoors of your WordPress guys!
Bas-Armagnac Alfred Dubois-Lizée 49 yo 1973 ‘Brigitte’ (47,8%, Jack Tar 2022, single dame jeanne #445, 107 btl.)
Nose: raisins and tobacco, with orangettes, grapes and fresh hints of mint. Beautiful wood polish. Then milk chocolate and a few rummy elements (caramel and vanilla).
Mouth: slightly rustic perhaps, with a good dose of minty wood and herbal tea, dark tobacco and hints of chocolate again. Cinnamon and marmalade. Then plums and oranges appear, with raisins. Hints of salted caramel and ganache.
Finish: long, mostly on aromatic woody notes, white pepper and raisins.
A nice start, basically offering all we expect from an old armagnac. It’s just a little peppery and wood-forward, so let’s hope we’re not going in crescendo with the others.
Bas-Armagnac Alfred Dubois-Lizée 57 yo 1965 ‘Paul’ (43,4%, Jack Tar 2022, single dame jeanne #403, 60 btl.)
Nose: a rather creamy profile, as if someone added vanilla ice cream. Very round, with hints of bourbon whiskey. Pears, yellow plums and a good dollop of honey or mead. Flowery hints. Maybe a hint of strawberry too.
Mouth: again rounder and brighter than the 1973, although more woody than the nose suggested. Honeyed notes, mirabelles, apricot jam. Then light pastry notes and hints of coconut. An earthy bitterness appears towards the end.
Finish: long, on tobacco leaves, black tea and toffee.
I’m not too fond of the lactic side here, but other than that, this is really seductive and very velvety. Score: 87/100
Bas-Armagnac Alfred Dubois-Lizée 59 yo 1963 ‘Jane’ (46,2%, Jack Tar 2022, single dame jeanne #406, 88 btl.)
Nose: fresh aromatic herbs stand out here, with a nice overtone of acetone. A light metallic edge. Then the fruity notes come out, like cherries, raisins and blood oranges. Darker coffee in the background, as well as tobacco. Subtle medicinal touches too. The best one so far, for me.
Mouth: old wood, with hints of eucalptus, against a background of dark chocolate and tobacco. Leafy notes and rancio. Then berries appear, say blackberries. There’s the bitterness of heavily roasted coffee but also a minty freshness.
Finish: long, on rancio notes, with cloves, mint and subtle syrupy fruits.
A lot of character here. Overall this is a darker profile, with a lot of coffee, intense wood and dark syrupy notes. Yet there’s also a fresh mintiness that lifts it. Really good. Score: 89/100
Bas-Armagnac Alfred Dubois-Lizée 88 yo 1934 ‘Claude’ (44,2%, Jack Tar 2022, single dame jeanne #477, 88 btl.)
Nose: this one starts on dusty notes (old books) and assorted nuts (walnuts, hazelnuts). In a second wave it becomes quite floral, with whiffs of potpourri and rose petals. Floral honey and sandalwood after a while. Bergamots and melissa. Light toffee and sweet herbal drops in the background.
Mouth: the same dusty side that we didn’t get in the others, but otherwise very fruity. Stewed peaches, cherries and plums, with a hint of blackberry jam. Then walnuts, milk chocolate, hints of thyme and bay leaves. The oak is well under control, in fact it stays in the background, hidden behind the sweeter notes.
Finish: medium length, starting on tobacco and toffee, moving towards herbal tea with honey.
The nose is brilliant, showing lots of tiny elements. The palate shows lower complexity than the other expressions, but stays surprisingly mild with very little wood astringency. Really beautiful. Score: 91/100