LE PASSEUR St Martin 1992 cask no. 90 Continuous distillation 54.7% Bas Armagnac 70cl

This 1992 Armagnac is presented at its natural strength, unfiltered, uncolored, straight from the cask. Bottled in 2024.

Grape Variety: Baco

Terroir: Bas Armagnac, sable fauve soil in the Gers region

Cask Strength: Unfiltered, uncolored, undiluted

Aging: A single cask in a dry cellar

Tasting Notes: This Armagnac belies its age. A powerful and rich attack that mellows mid-palate around warm notes of apricot, mirabelle plum, toasted caramel, and coffee, with a long and saline finish.

Le Passeur , in the person of Romain Duteuil, is a nomadic Armagnac bottler. He offers meticulously crafted and selected Armagnacs. Single cask and cask strength (no corrections, no sugar or coloring). He sources barrels from cellars in Gascony and bottles the treasures he unearths directly on the estates.

Château Saint Martin

The Estate: 65 ha of vines dedicated to the production of wines (Côtes de Gascogne) and Armagnac in Réans. Marc is the 5th generation of winemakers and distillers. His father Yvan is still alive but has handed over the reins and retired. He cultivates his vines, makes his wines, and distills them himself. He is also a mobile distiller, meaning he also distills Armagnac for some local producers. One of his two traditional Gascon stills, "La Marie Jeanne," is the oldest mobile still in the Armagnac AOC.

We are in Bas Armagnac on "sable fauve" soils. The grape varieties used for Armagnac are predominantly Baco, with a little Folle Blanche for the youngest vintages. The distillation degree is high, 58-59%. Aging takes place in foudres (large vertical barrels) for the first few years, then in old barrels. There are two cellars: a humid cellar with an earthen floor for young vintages, and a drier cellar where Armagnacs aged over 15 years are refined.

The richness characteristic of the Baco grape is found in St Martin Armagnacs, well-balanced by the tension and structure brought by a high distillation degree and the aging of old vintages in a dry cellar, which preserves this rather high alcohol content.

His Armagnacs are intense, deep, and have a beautiful length on the palate.