NEWS 2021
2 vines Domaine d'espérance ranked in Guide Hachette 2021
AWARDS :
Cuvée d'or 2019, ranked 2*
Cuvée rosée 2019, ranked 1*
Domaine d'Espérance XO ranked N°1
Dec 2018_ www.winemag.com
NEWS 2020
Press article in CALIBRE 23 novembre 2020 by Sam Huff - https://calibremag.com/
Armagnacs special : The houses - Domaine Tariquet and Domaine d'Espérance
WINE TIME EVENTS
Article by Diana Lyalle BA, April 16, 2020
"Armagnac Adventures : Domaine d'Espérance"
LIQUORS
Article by Chris O’Brien Updated 10/26/20
"Blanche Armagnac Might Be the Next Big Thing in Cocktails"
Vidéo
30 ans du Domaine d'Espérance
2018
Harvest septembre 2018 of vine "Folle-Blanche" for Armagnac, at Domaine d'Espérance
Grape harvester : 1h by hectare, very early in the morning. We overturn into the truck which arrives at the wine store house within 5 minutes....
2018 MEDIA reports
Top 100 Spirits of 2018
As is the case every year, this list is culled from all the products reviewed in our Spirit Buying Guide over the past 12 months. And, as always, compiling it has been quite a treat, with selections ranging from rare single-vintage Armagnacs to Bourbons meant to represent the pinnacle of the distiller’s craft, like Wild Turkey Master’s Keep Revival, which nods to the legendary Jimmy Russell, or Booker’s Bourbon 2017 Sip Awhile, a tribute to Booker Noe.
Now is the perfect time to celebrate the old and the new. We’re lucky to have both options in abundance. –
Kara Newman
Why You Need to Give Armagnac a Chance
Despite both being French brandies, Cognac often takes center stage. But Armagnac offers unique flavors you're going to want to try.
By Kara Newman
".....Domaine d’Esperance is an excellent example of a house that artfully navigates these crossroads. The same distiller that produced this month’s top-scoring bottling also recently introduced a sassy, provocative approach to Blanche Armagnac.
A white spirit, minimally aged and intended to compete with vodka as a cocktail mixer, Blanche Armagnac hasn’t caught on the way producers had hoped when introduced in 2015. However, Esperance teamed up with Brooklyn-based importer PM Spirits to debut Cobrafire. It’s labeled as grape eau de vie, not Blanche Armagnac; stay tuned to see if this emerging style lands with bartenders..."
"...Domaine d’Espérance XO Bas-Armagnac (France; PM Spirits, Brooklyn, NY); $94,
98 points (best rate). The wonderful aroma suggests juicy orchard fruit brushed with vanilla and cocoa. On the supersoft palate, a concentrated cocoa note leads to peach nectar, gingery spice and a delicate curl of orange peel on the finish. Made with a blend of four vintages, the youngest of which was aged 10 years. abv: 40.7%..."
Gascony’s Armagnac offers robust richness that’s not often seen in the ligher Cognac style.
Published on December 14, 2018
https://www.winemag.com/2018/12/14/you-need-to-give-armagnac-a-chance/
Sept 2018_ USA_ IWSR p 73-74
Extraits :
Claire de Montesquiou of Domaine d’Espérance, near the northern limit of Bas-Armagnac produces exclusively cask-strength Armagnac, marketing it through word of mouth and a recently redeveloped website. She describes meeting a Thai importer at a Fête de l’Armagnac last year in the small village of Labastide d’armagnac, adding she recently shipped a consignment to Thailand as a result.
........
De Montesquiou’s Armagnac was recently picked by the Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS), a useful channel to reach new consumers. “They came on the day we were picking and were delighted to see what we were doing,” she says. The SMWS “chose many barrels of Domaine d’Espérance » and release it in early 2018. De Montesquiou is optimistic about the category partly as the generations change. “I find all the young generation are starting to like spirits again. Also bartenders love cocktail with young Armagnac – it’s the trend [now].” As for the French market, de Montesquiou reports a trend towards less but better. « I find that people would rather take one very good Armagnac than lots of small bottles – people want quality.”
........
Unfortunately, I’ve not seen yet a real change in terms of pricing for XO Armagnac (and this is) a shame. XO Armagnacs is the same quality as XO Cognac, so why should it be lower in price ? It’s much rarer, so it should be higher. » While her XO has always been aged a minimum of 10 years of 10 years, de Montesquiou believes this change is “a good thing for Armagnac generally”.
USA 2018 _ distribution
NEW PM SPIRITS PROJECT - COBRAFIRE distilled by Domaine d'Espérance
Distillation is an art. A spirit shouldn't be judged by its ABV but by who distilled it and how good at the job this person is.
What’s Blanche d’Armagnac? Well, that’s been our issue for years.
Blanche is an appellation launched in 2015 to somewhat capitalize on the vodka/white spirits craze with the idea of getting Armagnac more play behind bars. Let’s face it - who is mixing with Armagnac? Pretty much nobody.
Often times bottled at 40 or 42% abv, in a round bottle (other bottle shapes are permitted but a specific bottle has been deemed the Blanche bottle), we felt that the Blanche appellation was the answer to a problem that did not exist, making sales of an awesome distillate more complicated than needed.
So, we decided to change that. Get more of this fantastic liquid to the mouth of the people who care about good booze.
Teaming up with Claire de Montesquiou, the owner of fabulous Domaine d’Esperance located in the Sables Fauves - a sandy part of the Bas Armagnac sub- appellation of the Armagnac region – I embarked on a project to get unaged Armagnac the recognition it deserves.
Distilled to proof, e-g no water added, from a blend of 50% Baco and 50% Folle Blanche grape varieties harvested
in 2017, rested in a stainless steel tank for 3 months before bottling, the juice in this bottle is highly drinkable.
No additives, no coloring, no sweetener. Pure, unadulterated, unaged distillate.
What’s in the bottle is the true essence of unaged French brandy. Essentially, you’re looking at Blanche d’Armagnac, bottled at full proof.
By now you’ll have understood that we like full-proof, unaged Armagnac. A lot.
Read article and project description
webpage link : https://www.pmspirits.com/cobrafire/
ARMAGNAC : L’ODE À L’EAU-DE-VIE
Par Rico Rizzitelli envoyé spécial dans le Gers et dans les Landes
30 mars 2018 à 17:46
Cet alcool aux arômes subtils, vieux de 700 ans, davantage associé au commissaire Maigret qu’aux soirées branchées, pourrait pourtant se refaire une santé, fort de son vernis vintage.
http://next.liberation.fr/food/2018/03/30/armagnac-l-ode-a-l-eau-de-vie_1640107
Extrait
"....Cap sur les Landes. Le domaine d’Espérance se situe à Mauvezin-d’Armagnac, à quelques encablures de la forêt landaise dans le Bas-Armagnac. Claire de Montesquiou, qui travaillait dans la mode en Grande-Bretagne, s’y est installée en 1990. Elle revendique une approche haut de gamme et «féminine» : «On a supprimé la rusticité, on privilégie le fruit à l’alcool. Les cépages qu’on utilise, le baco et la folle blanche, donnent à nos eaux-de-vie un goût fruité, floral, plus rond.» La patronne raconte aussi que parfois le destin s’en mêle : «Une dame m’a commandé douze bouteilles en me demandant si je pouvais les livrer à Paris ou à New York. Elle a découvert notre armagnac lors d’un repas en avion. Comme elle était écœurée de trouver un cheveu dans sa soupe, l’hôtesse lui a offert un petit verre de notre armagnac. Ça lui a tellement plus qu’elle a passé commande......»
Read complete article in french
Domaine d'Espérance participation at TASTIN'FRANCE 2018 - Vietnam/Thaïland/Myanmar - Professional tasting of wines & spirits
Hanoi - 2 april 2018 / Ho Chi Minh - 3 april 2018
Tastin' France becomes integrated into the internationalization of the French economy, by offering quality services for companies avid to develop their projects export.
These professional tastings join an approach of creation of current affairs.
NEWS 2017
The Domaine d'Espérance on french tv news - France 3
Video extract of 7-8 pm daily news . november 5th, 2017
"Fabrication d'Armagnac au domaine d'Espérance"
To Make Its Case, Armagnac Has to Teach the Teachers
By JASON WILSONDEC. 18, 2017
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/18/dining/drinks/armagnac-brandy.html
Fine & Rare, a restaurant and bar in Midtown Manhattan, recently held an Armagnac tasting to educate its servers and bartenders about the lesser-known French brandy.
Photo Credit : Benjamin Norman for The New York Time
Armagnac Adventure by Richard Goslan & Michel Carrosio
publié sur le site www.smws.com
France's oldest eau-de-vie is the spirit of the ages. For 700 years, armagnac has been distilled and stored away for decades, as history rolled on. Today, ancient treasures are still being unearthed, as Unfiltereld discovered...
Read entire article
" Vous aimez le whisky mais pas ce qu’il devient? Alors il est temps de passer à l’armagnac "
par Christine LAMBERT - Slate.fr / 2 mars 2017 - (/source/74565/christine-lambert)
" Ces dernières années, j’ai bien entendu vos griefs et couinements, amis amoureux du malt –et pour tout dire je les partage. Trop de whiskies sans âme, sans âge, plus pasteurisés que le lait en brique, trop d’embouteillages industriel sans surprise, à des prix mon-ennemi-c’est-mes-finances, trop de marketing dans le flacon.
Oui, mais où chercher l’issue de secours, quand on n’apprécie ni le rhum (trop sucré), ni le cognac (chichi pompon), encore moins la vodka (un antiseptique qu’on trouve pour moins cher à la pharmacie) ?
Ne vous pochez plus la rate au court-bouillon: il est temps de passer à l’armagnac. J’en vois qui ricanent au fond près du radiateur. Alors laissez-moi expliquer en deux mots –y en a un peu plus, je vous les mets quand même ..."
Extraits :
Testez l’exigence du Domaine d’Espérance, avec le blend de 20 ans 100% cépage baco, tranchant et affûté, d’un équilibre de funambule.
Recherchez les vintages .... du Domaine d’Espérance (le 1990 au fruité élégant et au boisé précieux, la Folle Blanche 2000 embouteillée à 49%, avec son attaque fumée audacieuse) ...
Plein de pépites inconnues à découvrir...
Par Dmitriy Merezhko
http://www.simplewinenews.ru
Le journaliste russe Dmitriy Merezhko venu en Armagnac l'année dernière avec Elina Denisova dans le cadre du Club Export Russie, vient de faire paraître un article dans le magazine "Simple Wine News / SWN" (l'un des meilleurs et plus prestigieux magazines de vins et spiritueux en Russie).
Russian version only available
ARMAGNAC - véritable spiritueux artisanal - a true craft spirit
BUREAU NATIONAL INTERPROFESSIONNEL DE L'ARMAGNAC
Par Dmitriy Merezhko
Read article
