the passion of youth

At just 31 years old, Rémi Brocardo already has nine distillation campaigns to his credit and almost as much experience as a producer at Chateau Lassalle Baqué, the family estate he officially took over in 2018.

Beginning to learn distillation in contact with Philippe Gironi in 2014, he practiced a few years before returning to the family estate to distill for his parents in 2017. The last family distillation, already exclusively itinerant, then dated back to 1995. Aged 21, Rémi puts an end to almost as many years of interruption by distilling the equivalent of three barrels that he stores next to those of his ancestors. Although Armagnac has been flowing at Château Lassalle Baqué since 1884, the year the property was acquired, its ancestors were already producing Armagnac long before on another neighboring farm.

The story was officially launched when the following year, in 2018, he set up on his own and revived a old stock of Armagnac dating from his parents (and even from his grandfather with a 1964 vintage) by marketing his own bottles, determined to revive the family heritage and share it with as many people as possible. 

Its estate, located in the heart of Gascony, is made up of 14 hectares of vines, exclusively dedicated to the production of Armagnac where three grape varieties flourish with the seasons: Baco (3ha), Colombard (6.5ha) and Ugni Blanc (5ha). Vines located one kilometer around and sheltering two very distinct terroirs: on the one hand, boulbène soils with soil rich in silt, and on the other hand, rather claylimestone soils. Two types of soil that will give the eaux-de-vie more or less marked aromatic characteristics depending on the grape varieties. 

For his production at Château Lassalle Baqué, Rémi distills grape variety by grape variety and terroir by terroir, putting in barrels without reduction. He now has around thirty barrels, the vast majority of which he has distilled, stored in a historic clay cellar which offers both humidity conducive to aging (a century-old stone pipe even passes directly under the cellar) and a southern exposure. He will first pass his eaux-de-vie in new barrels or in red barrels for 11 to 13 months, before placing them in old barrels to continue their ageing. Eaux-de-vie in the making that he will aerate more or less frequently during their first three years in order to open them up as much as possible. As for the origin of his barrels, he works in close collaboration with two local coopers: Bartholomo and Adour, where he is particularly fond of high toasts which allow him to give his Armagnacs very different types.