Laubade 1992 31 yr. (btl. 2023) Bas-Armagnac 750ml
Château de Laubade is often described as the largest producing estate in Armagnac, cultivating 260 acres of vines entirely devoted to its own distillation, a scale matched by few other houses in this traditionally small-batch category. That volume allows the estate to direct its finest barrels toward limited, higher-age single-vintage bottlings while its everyday releases reach a much wider audience, a strategy that has made Laubade one of the most recognizable names in American wine and spirits shops. The Lesgourgues family, now in its third generation, still farms every grape used in these releases and ages the results in barrels coopered on site from Gascony oak.
This 1992 vintage draws entirely from that year's harvest, blending estate-grown Baco, Ugni Blanc, and Colombard through a home-made, single distillation carried out variety by variety. The eau-de-vie rested for thirty-one years in Gascony oak before being bottled in 2023, developing a bright amber hue over that long maturation while remaining fully traceable to its original harvest and cask.
The nose is delicate and fruity, showing dried prune and vanilla wrapped in gentle smoky wood. On the palate, white fruit and warm spice unfold with remarkably soft tannins, carrying into a long, silky finish that reflects three decades of patient aging.