His son Marc, a trained oenologist, joined his father to follow in his footsteps in 1996. Both complementing each other and both ‘treasure hunters’, as Martine Nouet nicknamed them in her book « Eaux-de-vie: le guide », they have roamed the lands of Armagnac for all these years searching for this golden liquid that they offer to you today.
Treasure hunters firstly by taste, but also to satisfy a loyal clientele looking for quality eaux-de-vie, together they are the discoverers of Armagnac. Today, Marc Darroze runs the company alone as Francis has taken his well-deserved retirement. He continues his work however, like a guardian with a watchful eye, sometimes like an antiquarian initiated by his father to help us make these treasures accessible.
SCHOLARS BLEND
For several generations, the Darroze family has scoured Gascony in the Grands Crus centre of the Bas Armagnac region. Thousands of centuries old treasures are held in stock at the Darroze house. This diversity in crus, vintages, grape varieties and styles has allowed Marc Darroze to work on this range known as « Les Grands Assemblages » (The Great Blends). Chosen for their complementary characteristics, the selected armagnacs in each blend are of different ages. Each age on the bottle indicates the age of the youngest Armagnac in the blend.
A VARIED AROMATIC PALETTE
The fruity aromas in the younger blends, with flavours of chocolate and coffee for the older eaux de vie, change to notes of spices and candied fruits at around 30 years old; the aromatic palette evolves naturally over the years. You can discover this evolution in each blend. Many years of ageing in 400 litre oak barrels have conferred suaveness and roundness on the tannins so that each « Grand Assemblage » reveals its own proper balance between the alcohol, the aromas and the tannins.
