Portail Internet de l'Armagnac : Distillation

Distillation takes place during the winter, no later than 31st March on the year following the harvest; for several years now, this date has been brought forward by an annual decree.
The wine is often distilled at the property, sometimes with the help of a roving distiller who will travel from cellar to cellar distilling the growers' wines, or in distilleries by specialist distillers or cooperatives.

Most Armagnac (approximately 95%) is produced in a still that is peculiar to this type of brandy: the Armagnac continuous still, made from pure copper and distilling just once. The patent was registered in 1818 and since then it has been adapted, modified and improved by the region's distillers. It makes a tangible contribution to Armagnac's personality. Some houses, however, remain attached to the double distillation pot still.
The wine contained in the loader vat is fed continuously into the still through the bottom of the cooling apparatus which is responsible for cooling the alcohol vapour contained in the coil. It rises in the heating chamber and is taken towards the column where it descends from plate to plate towards the boiler heated by gas or wood. At this stage the vinasse, (wine residue), is evacuated from the still via an overflow outlet. The intense heat from the fire forces the vapours to rise in the opposite direction where they bubble in the wine at the level of each plate. These vapours become richer in alcohol and absorb the wines' aromatic substances; they are taken via the swan neck pipe to the coil where they are condensed then cooled. The eau-de-vie is colourless on leaving the still and its alcohol content may vary from 52 to 72 percent by volume (but traditionally it ranges from 52 to 60 percent by volume).

At this stage the Armagnac is still in its fiery youth but it is already very aromatic with fruity scents of prune, pear etc. and often shows floral notes such as lime blossom and vine flowers. Ageing in wood confers complexity and additional mildness.

After distillation the Armagnac is set to age in oak casks called «pieces».
Most of these 400 litre casks are made from wood from the forests of Gascony or the Limousin area and are kept in cellars where the temperature and humidity levels are important factors for the ageing. From this time on the cellarmaster keeps careful watch over how his eaux-de-vie are developing:
• monitoring the amount of tannin and aromatic matter the spirit has extracted from the wood
• the partial evaporation of the spirit and the consequent lowering of the degree of alcohol (about ½ degree per year) known as the 'angel's share'.
• the development of aromas produced from the wood and the wine via the gradual oxygenation of the Armagnac through the barrel.

The brandies remain in new oak casks until all the oak's extractable substances have been absorbed (from six months to two years). They are then transferred to older barrels to pursue their slow maturation. As the woody flavours gradually become more refined they gain aromas of vanilla and prune, and rancio appears with its characteristic aromas of dried fruits and the degree of alcohol diminishes progressively as the alcohol evaporates (the “angel's share”). The brandy turns a beautiful amber, then mahogany colour.

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