1988 Château de Léberon, 44.9% (selection by Beast Masters/PM Spirits)

Ryan's Notes



This is a selection by a spirit enthusiast group called the Beast Masters Club and PM Spirits.  It is a 1988 vintage armagnac from Château de Léberon. Bottled at 44.9%, 30 years old and dark as night. Another one of those cool producers that ages their brand in oak harvested from the trees on their property. A combination of Ugni Blanc and Colombard grapes used in their production.

Nose: The nose promises a lot. Dark sticky molasses, walnut liqueur, lacquer, stewed fruits - plums, strawberries, light hints of tobacco.  I'm not a glass fanatic, but it's a nose that really opens up nicely in a larger glass like a canadian glencairn.

Taste: It starts off sweet and actually a bit juicy. Spiced chocolate pudding.  Thick sugars of stewed raisins, plums, figs, cherries, citrus.  Chewy mouthfeel. Lots of herbal bitters. Angostura. Actually a bit manhattan-esque. 

Finish: Tobacco leaves. No surprise we have some more lacquer and spicy oak notes that follow through in the finish.   Those dark fruits still linger underneath the oak. 

The profile doesn't change too much with the addition of water, but perhaps softens the dryness and offers a touch more sugars.

Overall: Overall this is both thickly sweet and drying at the same time.  With how dark this armagnac is I picked up a bottle of it thinking it would be way heavy on the oak for my tastes.  If you've read any of my reviews it's no secret that I love oak only in modest balanced doses. Well, I'm glad I grabbed a bottle as it's balanced nicely and a great brandy.  Just excellent.  It's full of complexity and the finish sticks around forever.  A really nice selection.   Well done.

A-

COMANDON SINGLE CASK 1977 THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE 59.7%

Thanks to a unwelcomed mid-April winter storm (let’s call it a midwesternr’), my social media feeds have been blown up with Game of Thrones themed posts. “Winter is coming...winter is NEVER leaving...I think I just saw the Night King having a pint at Revolution Brewery.” So I figured what better time than now to try this heater of a cognac - the LMDW TTGV 1977 Comandon - which weighs in at 59.7%.

The Comandon is from the Borderies cru, the smallest (acreage wise) of the regions. The history with Comandon is pretty interesting. They are an old house that used to produce cognac but currently they operate as an independent bottler. I imagine that since the label on this LMDW TTGV says “Comandon” that Comadon produced this cognac...but I also wonder if there is a chance it was merely purchased from Comandon by TTGV and produced by another house. Unlikely, but maybe? I guess I’ll have to look for some timelines and google a little more extensively (GoT is on in 15 minutes so I’m a bit limited time-wise right now). The Comandon website has a lot of info on the house and the link is provided below.

On to the review...

N: chocolate covered raspberries, canned peaches, apricot...a little cinnamon and coriander hiding in there, too.

P: Initially a sweet and creamy palate...apricots, peaches and cream...then baking spices and some herbal qualities like green tea...There is a little heat strikes it off-balance a little - not awful but definitely noticeable. The palate reminds me of a Frapin 89 I had, but with more oomph (since its cask strength). Aside from helping the baking spices pop more, a little water just muted the other flavors rather than teasing them out.

F: has a very nice length with a little burn...a little pleasure and pain commingled that booze masochists wont mind.

Thoughts: This is not a bad cognac by any measure. Serge gave this a lowly 79 points, which in my mind is a death-kiss score (at least by his measure). I have to respectfully disagree and say this is definitely a decent bottling. If it was still around at retail I would snag a bottle for myself (this was part of a bottle split with amigos).

Grade: B Plus

https://www.comandon.com/