Recently I crossed off a bucket list item by finally getting myself a bottle from the rarely-represented region of Haut-Armagnac, which runs to the east and south of the better-known Bas-Armagnac and Ténarèze regions (you can find a rough map at https://francetoday.com/food-drink/wi... ). Said bottle, from Chateau Arton's second line "La Flamme," wasn't particularly cheap for what it is (a not-quite-10yo ugni blanc), but who cares? I'd like to think that a Haut-Armagnac on the shelf still instantly makes me one of the coolest brandy nerds on YouTube. And what better way to test out my new Haut-Armagnac than to pit it against some of its neighbors in friendly competition?

So that's what we've got, a cross-Armagnac battle between three bottles from the three different regions that all cost circa a hundo. Off we go:

Chateau Arton "La Flamme" Haut-Armagnac 2011 (aged 2011 to 3/22, circa 9 years old; Ugni Blanc; 50.5% ABV), 86+/100
Delord "L'Authentique" Bas-Armagnac (NAS, stated averaged of 30 years old, bottled 5/12/16; 57% Ugni Blanc, 16% Colombard, 15% Folle Blanche, 12% Baco; 45.8% ABV), 88/100
Chateau de Pellehaut Armagnac-Ténarèze 1982 ((bottled 2021, 39 years old; ugni blanc; 48% ABV), 89/100

I've done reviews of Delord and Pellehaut before (see    • Intro to Armagnac: Artez Folle Blanch...   and    • Exploring Armagnac-Ténarèze: Pellehau...   ), and these are particularly good examples (and, even better, they're ones you can find in Chicago). The little La Flamme, sadly but without too much surprise, can't quite keep up in this company, but it's delightful all the same and I'll be happy to have it around for any curious fellow brandy nerds that stop by.

Extra special thanks to my Different Spirits on Patreon (  / differentspirits  ) -

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