photo from vendor's websiteFor my birthday, a friend sent me a bottle of the finest Armagnac I've ever tasted: a 1980 Baron de Lustrac in a fancy wooden box (dovetails and everything, with nifty little brass hinges and catch).
Admittedly, I've only sampled half a dozen different Armagnacs (it's more difficult to find in restaurants than Cognac--mostly I come across Larressingle and Darroze, both good) but this one floats above them all like a cirrus cloud. It has a fabulous combination of complexity and clarity (it's rich but light, warm but whippy), one I've never encountered before. It was a fine, fine coda to a delicious meal last night (butternut squash soup with cream and chives, lamb stew with caramelised pearl onions and baby carrots, apple and berry crumble with cream--and wine of course, lots of wine, plus conversation about publishing).
I am smiling (and, y'know, very slightly hung over--but mostly smiling).
