Nomadic distillation

Without distillation, there would be no Armagnac. And without an alambic, there would be no distillation. For the producers that don’t own their own alambic, there are roving distillers that travel the roads of the Gers to offer this distillation service.

The art of distillation is not accessible to all[1]. Not only because of the high cost of an alambic, but also the complexity of its use.  An alambic is mastered like playing an instrument and it falls upon the distiller to listen as he works, like listening to a piece of music devoting his full attention to the breath of the boiling wine, to the hiss of the plates and the soft purr of the boiler.

For many producers, this represents a constraint to which the roving distiller can provide all the solutions.  With their travelling alambics they wander around the Gers from village to village transforming the different producers’ wines into alcohol.  A process that can take several days depending on the quantity of wine to be transformed.

During the distillation, the roving distiller and his team take turns day and night, each one working a shift sometimes at two in the morning, or at two in the afternoon.  The alambic, however, never sleeps and it is important to watch over it all the time in order to continuously feed it with wood for the boiler, to ensure its smooth functioning and to permanently adjust the flow of the wine.

The distiller never takes his eyes off the alambic and lives with it throughout the distillation period (from October to the end of March), so much so that he has a symbiotic relationship with the apparatus.  A close relationship where the distiller finds his heart beating in time to the alambic in perfect harmony during this winter period.

The sharp nose of the professional distiller will ensure the quality of the distillate and his attentive ears await the slightest hiccup in the machine, whereas the other indicators allow him to ensure the smooth running of the distillation like measuring the temperature of different parts of the alambic (wine heater, boiler, output pipe, etc.).  The distiller may well need to adjust the flow of the wine and/or fill the boiler with wood.

The profession of the travelling distiller is so complex and demanding that there are only three still active today.  Between themselves, they perpetuate this ancient tradition handed down from father to son so befitting the image of Armagnac that is both demanding and bucolic.