Hontambere 1985 GOTA 56,6%

Hontambere 1985 Grape Of The Art 56,6%

Rum-ours

Most of the time, I find that Teneraze armagnacs own a refined DNA that you can’t find in any other armagnacs. Let’s see if this 36yo nectar unearthed by GOTA’s team got this specific DNA.  

Colour: Dark amber, gold lights. Heavy regular tears. 

Nose: Very round at first, with a perceptible creaminess. Vanilla, toffee, milk chocolate. Coconut milk. Quite an appealing nose. Massive orange zest marmalade notes in the background. Obvious oakiness but it seems well-balanced. A tad of salty/umami shades on soy sauce shades. Let’s reach the palate and check this. 

Palate: Wow. Rum-like. Stunning dry and acidulous rancio. Full of exotic fruits with a marvelous banana marmalade aftertaste. Very funky watermelon juice notes that are fighting with delicious roasted pineapple aromas. A tad of resinous shades. Bang! This palate is way more convincing than the nose if you ask me. 

Last Notes: Briny and resinous notes with air, which reminds me a lot of Guyana rum style (again). Black tea scents too. Back on the palate, you find the creaminess perceived at the very beginning. Vanilla cream, toffee. Still some strong rum accents in the aftertaste. Himalaya ABV considering it’s an armagnac, but it seems at a relevant height here. It ends on bitter chocolate and black olive tapenade notes.

Very solid armagnac bottled by GOTA. I only miss a more refined nose to reach a higher level. If I was just focused on the palate, I would probably go with a 90. 

My very subjective note: 88/100

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