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Armagnac Larressingle
The story of a castle and a passionate family for five generations…
In the eleventh century, the Larressingle property was a fortified village, consisted of farms. Today, the castle does not longer exist. The farms were assigned to the monk of Condom’s town. The monks decided to fortify the village because this area was fragile at this period, due to the war between France and England. The caste Larressingle was thus created.
No woks have been made to the castle, until the French Revolution, where he became a national asset. Unfortunately, the castle was then "abandoned" and it was only in the early twentieth century that the Duke of Treviso undertook some major renovations.
The family Papelorey bought the Larressingle castle in 1896. It's precisely Gabriel Papelorey, who acquired the castle. In fact, his father, Hippolyte, moved to Fécamp and was established as a boats’ trader. Gabriel is the first trader to sell bottled Armagnac. He mixed brandy with old Armagnacs, stored in the castle of Larressingle. Then, the house trade grows through Gabriel’s son, Robert. He increased the sales in France and abroad. Today, Maurice Papelorey, and his son, Arnaud, are at the head of the company. Classified historic monument, the “Château de Larressingle” is one of the Gascogne’s jewels.
The Larressingle’s Armagnacs come from white grapes: Folle Blanche and Saint-Emilion (more commonly known as ugni blanc). These vines come from Bas-Armagnac and the Ténarèze, ie, two of the three regions of the Armagnac production’s area.
The ugni blanc grape is Armagnac distillation’s master. It provides their finesse to these spirits.
Folle Blanche is the traditional Armagnac’s vine. However, it was destroyed by the phylloxera. Nowadays, its culture is difficult. Folle Blanche’s vine also brings finesse and floral notes to the Armagnacs.
From these different vines, a traditional sparkling white wine is produced. Then, this wine is distillated during the winter (distillation must be done before the 31st of March of the harvest following year). This produces an “eau de fleur” or a brandy, which was invented by the Cistercian monks, called “aygue ardente”. This brandy is aged in barrels-oak, made from black oak from the Monlezun forest. It is during the aging in barrels, that the Armagnac takes its amber color.
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