DOMAINE DE BARAILLON
We've been carrying the Baraillon Armagnacs for three years now and it's been a match made in heaven for K&L, the Claverie family, and our customers—we're their biggest account and their biggest fans. There's something special about walking into the tasting room at Baraillon, which is really just a little hut next to their home with plastic furniture and humble offerings (like fresh fois gros straight from the farm next door). Mr. Baraillon will come in from feeding the pigs wearing rubber boots, while his daughter Laurence stands by quietly, yet does most of the talking. It's as "real" of a rustic French experience as I think exists, in that there's absolutely no romantic marketing or salesmanship going on in the room. You're simply stopping by a small farm in the Bas-Armagnac that sells meat, preserves, and also happens to have a little reserve Armagnac in the chai outside—some amazingly-delicious Armagnac, no less.
We've brought in several expressions from Baraillon over the last few years: the heralded, customer-favorite 1985 vintage, a simple 10 year expression, a lovely 1998 Folle Blanche vintage, and a trio of super-old, ultra-rare gems from 1893, 1900, and 1933. Tasting through the line-up at Baraillon is not only incredibly-exciting, it's also exhausting! There are so many different expressions available, many of which have been archived in glass demi-johns to prevent further maturation. The Claverie vineyards are divided evenly between baco, folle blanche, and ugni blanc, so there is also the opportunity to taste single varietal Armagnacs versus blends of the three grapes together. As far as I know, the Claveries only distill folle blanche as a single varietal; although there are some 100% baco distillates from past generations in their chai.