Laubade 2000 23 yr. (btl. 2023) Bas-Armagnac 750ml

Château de Laubade was founded in 1870 in the heart of Gascony, and the third generation of the Lesgourgues family now oversees its 105-hectare vineyard, the largest single-block estate in Bas-Armagnac. The property maintains a library of more than eighty distinct vintages, each drawn entirely from a single year's harvest, and every release is held back for a minimum of fifteen years in Gascony oak before bottling. Château de Laubade is unique among Armagnac houses in coopering its own barrels on site, giving it complete oversight from vine to bottle.

This 2000 vintage was made exclusively from estate-grown Baco and Ugni Blanc, each variety distilled separately for maximum finesse before resting in the property's own casks. Left at its natural strength of roughly 52.4 percent rather than diluted, the spirit spent twenty-three years maturing before being bottled in 2023, developing a mahogany color with a bright, polished shine.

The nose is delicate, showing citrus and grapefruit alongside prune and vanilla. The palate opens with a frank, generous attack that broadens into balanced fruit and oak, closing on a round, pleasant finish that reflects both the vintage's character and Laubade's long, patient approach to aging.