30/07/2026
New GotA release is out now! For our 30th release we're bottling a first: the first cask strength Bas-Armagnac of Baron Gaston Legrand on the market.
Baron Gaston Legrand 1986
Bas Armagnac, distilled from Baco and Ugni Blanc Grapes
Aged for 39 Years in Single Cask #32
Bottled at 47.1% Cask Strength
Limited to 238 bottles
Suggested Retail Price: 135€
Available now at our partners, shop list in the comments.
BGL is the Armagnac house of Maison Lhéraud. Their 40% Bas-Armagnac is a proven crowd-pleaser (accessible and elegant), but this time we wanted the same Gascon character with nothing taken out. So we jumped at a 1986: distilled that December, 39 years in cask #32, bottled exactly as it came out of the wood at a natural 47.1%.
Fun Fact: The Armagnac of Baron Gaston Legrand is one of the very few that don't age in the Armagnac region. After many visits to the Cognac cellars, I was eager to arrange a visit in Armagnac as well to taste some casks. Funnily enough, they were resting at the Domaine in Cognac, just hidden away in a separate warehouse.
Clément and I had a big laugh after realizing that he never mentioned it and we never asked what this other huge warehouse is hiding (in plain sight, next to the tasting room!). As it turned out, Maison Lhéraud has a special permit by the BNIA, which allows them to age the Armagnac in the Cognac region. So all Armagnac is moved there at a very young age, and the Cognac team takes care of the Armagnac casks as well.
The 1986 was the clear favorite out of a few dozen casks I tasted last year with Clément and Jean-Charles, the grandson of Guy Lhéraud.
Tasting-wise this is a classic Armagnac, and I mean that as the compliment it is. The nose leads with fruit, a mix of stone fruit and dried fruit, with almost no wood. On the palate the oak steps forward but never takes over. The 39 years show clearly, yet fruit and wood stay in balance, carried by leather, to***co and a touch of toffee. The texture is rich and on the heavier side, dry rather than sweet. The finish is medium-long and dry, on dark fruit.
At 47.1% it's intense but easy to sit with: full strength without the burn, exactly the balance you want from an old cask. No rum or wh**ky comparison this time. It's a great classic Armagnac for Armagnac lovers, and I'd happily put it in front of wh**ky and rum nerds too. The feedback has already been excellent: at the Armagnac Festival, and at the Wagemut Sommerfest, where visitors insisted on buying our tasting bottles on the spot because they couldn't wait for the release.
Baron Gaston Legrand is a traditional family Armagnac house in Lannepax, in Bas-Armagnac, with around 120 years of history and a library of old vintages going back to the late 19th century. When the succession became uncertain, Guy Lhéraud stepped in in 1998 to keep that Gascon heritage intact.
