Domaine de Charron 1989
Single Cask Armagnac
30 Years Old
Cask Strength, Unfiltered
Aged in 100% New French Oak

When we visited Jean-Philippe Balay, the owner/producer at Domaine de Charron in Villeneuve-de-Marsan, France, a couple of things happened.

#1 We found out why Charron is the darkest, richest, most flavorful, over the top “bourbon-drinker’s Armagnac” in the world. It’s because unlike any of the other dozens of Domaines we tasted, he uses 100% new charred French oak barrels and never moves the juice. Virtually every other Domaine uses new oak for one to three years and then pumps the spirit into reused casks.

#2 We tasted ALL OF IT. I mean Jean-Philippe started pouring us every year of distillation from 10 year old casks all the way back through the 2000’s and 1990’s. When we asked what the oldest stocks at Charron were, he took us to the very back of the small farmhouse cellar to two demijohns (for those that don’t know these are glass containers about a quarter the size of a French oak barrel). Here we tasted the oldest vintages of Charron, 1988 and 1989.

When we say these were dark as night, flavorful as all hell, and just an explosion of deep wood and raisins and tobacco, we really can’t overhype it. Tasting is believing.

We never thought we’d be able to share this with you, but Jean-Philippe has released a very small, highly allocated amount of these casks and we were able to get 12 bottles of each. Tasting these next to our 1992 Charron private barrel is something you really shouldn’t miss!