De Montal – Armagnac V.S.O.P ‘release from the 1970s’

De Montal – V.S.O.P. Armagnac from the 1970s

The Armagnac brand De Montal can trace its history back to the 17th century. The de Montal family is based at the Château du Rieutort in Gascony, an early 17th-century château that once belonged to King Louis XV and has been in the family’s possession since 1865. Today, the company is run by Count Olivier de Montal, who is the sixth generation to carry on the family tradition.

De Montal is a brand of the Compagnie des Produits de Gascogne (CPG), a cooperative of around 60 winegrowers in the Bas-Armagnac region, based in Nogaro. The wines are made from the four classic Armagnac grape varieties – Colombard, Folle Blanche, Baco and Ugni Blanc – each of which contributes its own distinctive characteristics: Colombard brings fruitiness, Folle Blanche elegance, Baco structure and Ugni Blanc aromatic depth.

Production follows strict tradition: the grapes are harvested – often at night to preserve the aromas – and undergo spontaneous fermentation without the addition of sulphur or sugar. This is followed by distillation in the three copper stills, lovingly named after the Musketeers Athos, Porthos and Aramis – watched over by a bust of D’Artagnan. Ageing takes place in oak casks from the forests of Monlezun and Frêche, whose centuries-old white oak imparts the Armagnac’s complex structure.

De Montal’s V.S.O.P. is – unusually for this category – matured for seven to eight years in French oak, which lends it a remarkable smoothness and balance. Tasting notes describe it as orange-amber in colour with a bouquet of fresh yellow plum, vanilla and orange peel; on the palate, it is round and plummy with spicy oak notes, medium body and a pleasantly robust intensity. Other tasting reports highlight aromas of caramelised oranges and white flowers, along with a long finish featuring chocolate, spices and toasted almonds.

A bottle of V.S.O.P. from the 1970s is now a sought-after collector’s item. Such bottlings were produced at a time when Armagnac was still more artisanal in nature and the De Montal brand was exported to the USA via Seagram – an era documented in 2013 at a Tennants auction, where a lot was sold for £130. The appeal of such a bottle lies not only in its rare age, but also in the opportunity to experience an Armagnac whose eau-de-vie dates back to the 1960s and early 1970s – a time when the art of distillation in Gascony was practised in its most traditional form.