There are very few products whose clear superiority and singularity allow them to define the very category into which they are placed. The Armagnacs of Laberdolive, however, have for many years been regarded by a consensus of connoisseurs as the exemplar of the highest standard to which Armagnac can aspire. As Charles Neal observed in his ARMAGNAC, The Definitive Guide to France’s Premier Brandy:
“Laberdolive. The very name carries with it an aura. With regards to reputation, the family firm sits upon France’s upper echelon alongside Mouton, Romanée-Conti, Petrus, Roederer, Guigal, Yquem; Laberdolive’s Armagnacs are the ones that get the most press, the ones bought by Onassis and Fernandel, and the ones whom locals regard with critical envy.”
Laberdolive is single-vineyard, vintage-dated Armagnac crafted by one Gascon family for over five generations. The Armagnac is produced from wine made from their own vineyards (including rare ungrafted, pre-phylloxera folle blanche, which they are still able to grow because of the sandy soil). It is distilled by hand with an antique wood-fired continuous still and aged in black oak barrels hewn from the estate’s own forests. Laberdolive Armagnac is bottled at cask strength, and only when fully mature, with no addition of coloring or water. “Laberdolive remains a reference in the region and a name that is associated with Armagnac of grand class.”
