Armagnac and the Dutch association

How does an eau-de-vie produced in the remote areas of a superb yet isolated region in the southwest of France come to be spread over the four corners of the world ? To answer this question one has to delve into the history of Armagnac.

In the 17th century, the Dutch were the masters of the European seas widely travelling and discovering opportunities with their powerful maritime fleet.  Sailing to the rhythm of the waves, they had the upper hand in maritime trade, particularly concerning the sales of wines and spirits.

At that time, the Bordeaux region was already considered as a reference for wine, so much so that the English had the monopoly, forcing the Dutch to go further inland to get their wines, especially in the Gers, the formidable homeland of Armagnac.

Only that in the Bordeaux port, the wines from these lands were intercepted by the port authorities who refused to encourage the commercialisation of wines other than those from their region.

The Dutch, however, found a way to counter this.  If it was forbidden to transport wines that didn’t come from Bordeaux, there was nothing to stop them transportingspirits that didn’t come from Bordeaux. Thus they encouraged the Armagnac producers to continue their efforts making eau-de-vie.

The Dutch ships regained their journey full sail with their entire cargo holds full of brandewyn (burnt wine), as they were already calling this eau-de-vie from Armagnac – a word that the English called brandy.

To complete this pretty spin that allowed the Dutch to get their supplies outside of Bordeaux, they quickly noticed that the Gers eau-de-vie actually improved during the journey whilst in contact with its container: the oak barrel.

This is how Armagnac started to infiltrate a great number of European countries.  The Gers people meanwhile will always owe a debt of gratitude to the Dutch for enabling this tremendous growth and to the people of Bordeaux who inadvertently encouraged the production of their eau-de-vie.