L’Encantada Sélection, Bogosse, Du Pin, Labeyrie

After the Renaissance armagnacs from L’Encantada, we now look at some of their other bottlings.

We start with a fairly classic armagnac, a blended armagnac in fact with spirits from different estates in the Bas-Armagnac region. L’Encantada combined them into a single cask and matured it for 20+ years. It has been bottled at different points in time, if I’m not mistaken.

 

Armagnac L’Encantada Sélection 20 Ans (47,2%, OB 2022, cask #134)

Nose: quite fruity, with a mix of plums, peaches and pears. Also fragrant / floral notes, leading up to vanilla. Orange juice and peels. Then some beehive notes, like wax and honey. Just a trace of minty freshness, tea and oak spice on top. A nice composition.

Mouth: clearly more oak influence now, albeit in an elegant, polished way. Herbal notes and liquorice, with roasted almonds and hints of walnuts. Then some honey, but also a light petroly note and clove, leaving a bittersweet footprint and echoes of rancio. Plums and orange peels in the background.

Finish: medium long, with more plums, herbal oak, vanilla and orange peel.

This armagnac has a very harmonious, elegant nose that could easily trick you into thinking it was a cognac. Slightly firmer and certainly more spicy on the palate. Overall a well composed blend and a good value armagnac. Still available from the L’Encantada webshop.

 

Now we move to some experimental stuff, starting with a young armagnac from Domaine Artigaux. It is a blend of black oak from Gascony (Quercus robur) to add depth, and further aged in Limousin oak (Quercus petraea) to add lusciousness.

 

Armagnac Artigaux 7 yo 2015 (57,6%, L’Encantada 2023, 2000 btl.)

Nose: sour quinces and pears, with a woody note that hints towards glue and varnish. Maybe a hint of white balsamic too. Then sweeter hints of apples and vanilla biscuits. Lemon peels. The big woody sweetness gives it a rum-like character.

Mouth: quite fierce and woody, with a bittersweet note and a lot of varnish again. Then clove and nutmeg, on a background of plum eau-de-vie, apples, salted butter and burnt sugar. A firm sourness as well, mixing with pepper and ginger. Even a sulphurous edge. It does feel a little experimental.

Finish: rather long, on sour grapes, roasted nuts and new wood.

Armagnac meets rum and American whiskey? A rather ferocious proposition dialed up to 11, up to the point where it becomes a little difficult to sip. Call me conservative. Available from L’Encantada direct. Score: 78/100

 

 

Armagnac Domaine Du Pin 2006 (54,4%, L’Encantada 2023, cask #15, 50 cl, 580 btl.)

Nose: quite a wide profile, with fragrant apricots and sweet pears, along with floral notes. Geraniums! Vanilla and heady oak, as well as cinnamon and hints of nougat. Heather honey before we go back towards mirabelles.

Mouth: quite sweet. Caramelized almonds and baked apples. More peaches and yellow plums. Brown sugar. Mid-palate nice rancio notes come out, with a little mint, raisins and later a hint of tobacco. Drier and earthier in the end.

Finish: quite long, with pepper(mint) and hints of nutmeg, on top of lightly sugary notes.

Really good armagnac, with a higher complexity than I expected at this age. Rather elegant as well. At less than € 100, this comes recommended. Score: 88/100

 

Next up: two experimental spirits. For a product to be called armagnac, it must have been stored in an oak barrel for at least one year, but only local sessile oak and English oak (or their hybrids). That means special cask finishes as we know them in whisky are not allowed. However L’Encantada likes to play around with these crossovers, even when they have to be called Eau-de-Vie de Gascogne.

 

Eau-de-vie de Gascogne Labeyrie 2011 (54,7%, L’Encantada ‘Tattoo series’ 2023, Weller bourbon cask finish)

Nose: mostly the heady oak comes out, although there’s still an orchard fruitiness underneath. Pears, oranges, with vanilla and a drop of honey. Plenty of floral notes with some wood spice. Overall not too complex.

Mouth: a similar woody warmth, with hints of maple syrup, white pepper and nutmeg. Then orange peels and hints of raisins. Some vanilla. It comes accross as a fairly young, spirity spirit – an impression that may be highlighted by the extra bourbon oak.

Finish: medium, still fairly neutral, with oak spice and a hint of drying cocoa powder.

Quite simple – this doesn’t really convince me. I’m not sure Weller is the best bourbon to improve an armagnac. In fact, can American oak add much to (more aromatic) French oak in the first place? Discuss. Available from L’Encantada. Score: 81/100

 

 

Eau-de-vie de Gascogne Domaine Du Pin 2016 (56,6%, L’Encantada 2023, Barbados rum finish)

Nose: quite rounded, marked by oak again but with more warmth. Hints of coconut sweetness, a little leather and grape sweetness, maybe a hint of green banana. A light metallic note too. A bit of spiced milk chocolate as well.

Mouth: nicely fruity now. Grapes, peaches, some citrus. It finds a nice middle ground in between armagnac and rum indeed. A bit of alcohol heat and herbal bitterness in the end perhaps. Spices grow along the way.

Finish: medium length, with peper and ginger in the lead. Herbs as well. Too bad the fruits are gone now.

So yes, rum does add more excitement than bourbon, in my opinion. An interesting hybrid, and really affordable. Available from L’Encantada. Score: 85/100