Arranged marriage

The barrel, or ‘pièce’ as it is known in Armagnac, is a necessary tool for maturing the eau-de-vie.  The selection and the preparation of the wood for making the ‘pièces’ have to meet very specific criteria.

For an Armagnac to assert its personality, the wood must be of good quality.  The richness of Armagnac comes from the ‘merging’ relationship, some say ‘loving’, that the wood and the eau-de-vie maintain.  To preserve the ideal conditions possible during the ageing, the selection, transformation and blending of the wood must meet specific requirements and meticulous procedures.

The most successful marriages come from vines and wood that grow in the same locality.  Their vicinity to each other is the source of a sacred complicity, conducive to producing masterpieces.  Marrying vines and wood that have grown side by side is a rare privilege enjoyed by certain estates.  Only the pedunculate and sessile oaks meet the criteria in the bill of specifications.

The memories of the wood

The oaks are cut up into blocks of 1.10metres that are then split into eight parts to facilitate drying that last for three years.  With the segments, the cooper extracts two or three shooks of 4.5cm thickness that will serve to make the staves that will be wider in the middle than at the ends.

Drying in the open air that exposes the wood to air currents, rain and sunlight, increases the aromatic strength of the oak.  The flavours imprisoned in the fibres of the wood over the seasons bestow Armagnac with wild fragrances.  Added to the colour, these perfumes imprinted with the memories of the wood will forever be retained in the eau-de-vie.