ABOUT THE PRODUCER: Dartigalongue
The oldest house in Bas Armagnac, the Dartigalongue family began to distill in 1813. In 1838, Pascal Dartigalongue founded the first Maison d’Armagnac in Nogaro, the heart of the Bas Armagnac region. In 1870 son Joseph acquired a large vineyard in Salles d’Armagnac near Nogaro.
In 1978, great-grandson Pierre Dartigalongue created his Museum in Nogaro which houses all the archives of Maison D’Armagnac, including all correspondence since 1838 and a fascinating collection of Vieux Armagnacs in their original bottles, dated 1829, 1848, 1852, 1870, and 1900.
In 2010, Françoise Dartigalongue, fifth generation producer, then the head of the company, convinced her niece Virginie to take over the family business along with her husband Benoît Hillion. Benoît left his job as an agronomist in Paris to settle in Nogaro.
Seduced by the history of the House and by the enthusiasm and optimism of Françoise, Benoît and Virginie quickly took over and boosted the development of the Maison.
They take pride in maintaining the family traditions of service and quality and living up to the family motto of “My Armagnac, my strength.”
Dartigalongue is in the western part of the Bas Armagnac – the soils of the west are sandier than those to the east. Vines grown in sandy soils tend to produce grapes with higher acidity, which results in very round spirits with plenty of finesse.
Dartigalongue has the particularity of using mostly Gascogne oak (90%) that gives the eau de vie more spicy notes than armagnac aged in Limousin oak. The Armagnac are aged in 18 different cellars, and are aerated a lot, in big vats, to obtain the right balance between alcohol and aromas. Total production is around 5000 cases per year.
