Domaine de Baraillon Folle Blanche 1989 44,9%

And here is bas-armagnac for the second cognalternative of this session. It is another bottling from Authentic Spirits, and this one comes from Domaine de Baraillon, an armagnac house that already did some noticeable IB’s collaborations, especially with the Wu Dram Clan. This brandy is a 1989 Folle Blanche bottled at 44,9%. 

Colour: Amber, orange lights. Heavy irregular tears. 

Nose: Quite heady at first on floral and citruses scents. Great smells of orange blossom and tangerine juice. It goes on almost overripe fruity shades: plums, melon, vine peach. Nice floral notes of rose water and lavender. Bitter chocolate and nutty notes then. Hints of bourbon-like scents on violet and vanilla stick but immediately counterbalanced by wet undergrowth and humid cellar notes. Reasonable wood influence. 

Mouth: Sweet texture with a dry aftertaste. More armagnac-like than what I previously perceived but you still get some Bourbon shades on violet syrup and cocoa powder. Old dusty wood and linseed oil aromas in the mouth length. A tad of bitterness on cider apple. It ends on various citruses notes. 

Last Notes: Great cocoa powder scents (again). Quite rancioted with more air on licorice syrup and roasted black pepper. Strong coffee scents surrounded by strong walnut oil notes. Yes, definitively some nutty and roasted shades now. Acidulous texture now, full of rancioted notes of fresh ground coffee melted to the astringence of pinesap. It ends on dry chestnut and bitter chocolate aromas. 

Very Bourbon-like by some aspects. A refined armagnac with strong oaky tones. Well, it’s not that far from 88. Less convincing than the Dartigalongue Folle Blanche 1993 in my humble opinion, but this Baraillon has undeniable good overall qualities.