Row Spirits duet

1989 and 1990 side-by-side

IBs from armagnac area

You’re on the A65 highway, in the middle of the Eastern Landes. It’s August, the windows are wide open and you’re gasping for cooler air. You leave the main road and turn left, heading into Armagnac country. Your nostrils fill with warm pine resin…

Row Spirits Domaine de Jouatmaou 1989 34yo 41,5%

Folle Blanche and Baco, Bas-Armagnac, 34yo. This is quite a limited bottling from Row Spirits (571 bottles). Jouatmaou is located in the Northern BA (Landes), close to Lacquy terroir.

Colour: Amber, golden hues. Irregular heavy tears.

Nose: Intense vanilla notes at first. Delicate floral touches of dandelion and jasmine. Hints of pastry and buttery tones too. A touch of fruit in the background, mainly apricot and fresh pear.

Palate: Quite oily, with moderate tannins in the aftertaste. It remains delicate, following the nose’s path, but I miss a bit of balance here. Lovely pastry notes again, pasteis de nata and almond croissants.

Last Notes: It keeps a bright profile. Fresh plum, cooked apple. Slightly spiced, with hints of white pepper. Back on the palate, you get a baby rancio on raisins and liquorice stick.

A gentle kind of armagnac. Delicate and aromatic. I miss a bit of depth and precision to score it higher.

86/100

Row Spirits Ferme de Bacoge 1990 33yo 50,3%

Bacoge is a Western BA estate. This armagnac selected by Row Spirits is a blend of two 1990 casks, 100% Baco, cask strength. And quite a limited bottling (676 bottles). Let’s go!

Colour: Dark amber, reddish hues. Irregular heavy tears.

Nose: Very rum-like at first, bordering on something between Foursquare and TDL. High level of funkiness, with massive caramelised banana notes. Typical Gascony rancio, but with a very pleasant extra touch.

Palate: Smooth palate, yet those wild funky rum notes return. Hard to imagine tasting this blind (cheers to LDS mates). Rotten peaches, modelling clay, Earl Grey tea. 10% Caroni, 20% Foursquare, 60% cask strength Bas-Armagnac, and maybe 10% green Chartreuse for the herbal lift.

Last Notes: Great warm spices, mainly on smoked paprika and caraway. Green lemon marmalade. Faint Bourbon/Ténarèze echoes. Back on the palate, it feels like a musky perfume, Tom Ford’s Oud Wood for example (never drank perfume, just to reassure you). It ends on clove and menthol. And still those indelible rum notes. Great alcohol integration too.

Top-notch Armagnac, with a very distinct DNA. Funkiness, precision, depth. Not that far from 90.