Domaine D'Aurensan "Le Carré Des Fantômes" Single Plot Ténaréze Armagnac (700ml)

AOC Armagnac regulations permit ten different grape varieties, though today almost all production comes from just four: Ugni Blanc, Baco, Folle Blanche, and Colombard. In 2014, Domaine d’Aurensan set out to revive the six others, planting them together in a small parcel they call Le Carré des Fantômes, or “the ghost plot,” a nod to the nearly vanished status of these forgotten Armagnac grapes. Those rare varieties are Plant de Graisse, Mauzac Blanc, Meslier St François, Jurançon Blanc, Mauzac Rosé, and Clairette de Gascogne. Rather than separating them by row or block, Aurensan planted them using complantation, an old viticultural practice in which multiple varieties grow side by side in the same vineyard. The approach encourages biodiversity, resilience, and a more intricate expression of place. In 2018, the estate harvested, vinified, and distilled this unusual field blend for the first time, creating a single-plot Armagnac unlike anything else in the region. It was aged for more than three years and bottled at full cask strength, 52% ABV, without filtration, dilution, coloring, or additives. Le Carré des Fantômes is bright, aromatic, and deeply distinctive. The nose offers fresh orchard fruit, hay, and apple blossom, while the palate remains driven by the distillate itself, recalling both youthful Armagnac Blanche and the grassy lift of lightly aged rhum agricole. Notes of fruit skin, wildflower honey, quince paste, and fresh herbs give it striking energy and originalit