The Darroze 50 Year Old GA is exactly what you’d expect the 40 Year to mature into with ten more years of age. It’s so fascinating to taste the 30, 40, and 50 side by side. Each expression offers a textbook example of what you get when you take artisanal craftsmanship, the best aging regimen in the business, and artisanal blending standards. In short, pure Armagnac brilliance. The 50 Year Old’s deep, radiant chestnut color is stately and befitting a spirit of its age. The highly complex aromatics begin with deep cooked apple and pear along with a very luxurious wood profile, almost like being in a museum of the finest hand-made furniture you’ve ever seen. Candied orange peel, dried leaf litter, and an outstanding spice core are elegantly displayed in refined fashion. With air, the density and concentration ramp up as notes of apple fritter, apple pie, light tobacco, dark cherry and raspberry burst with authority, all the while underpinned by faint wood char, fine minerality, and a fresh cedar note. Intense structure and grip are balanced by a poised, well-defined flavor profile. This is savory, earthy, and soulful with fine ash, chalky minerality, and graphite on the entry and citrus pith, cola, clove, and sharp, savory spices on the mid-palate. It’s every bit as brooding and masculine as the 40 Year but with an extra layer of refinement from start to the long finish, which shows a concentrated burst of star anise, pear skin, pear liqueur, old leather. It’s an outstanding, reference-point example of fully mature Armagnac.
95 points, Andrew Kitz, B-21 Spirits Buyer (Sep 2026)
Top Quality Store
