The Terroir
At the heart of the Bas Armagnac LandaisIn 1928, Francis Darroze’s father took over his parents little café/hotel and transformed it into a top notch 2 star restaurant. Such was his success that this enterprise earned him the nickname ‘King Jean’!
From when Francis was 15 years old he tagged along with his father as he visited local and regional producers, sourcing quality products for his restaurant : foie gras, free range poultry, wild mushrooms and game, locally caught fish, fresh in-season fruit and vegetables and armagnac, a veritable nest egg for local producers.
The Darroze stomping ground remains the Bas Armagnac area.
The terroirs are heavily influenced by the Atlantic Ocean (the movement of the tides left a deposit of tidal sands on the soils) and the nearby Pyrenees mountain range (which explains why the soil is also ferruginous). This combination creates perfect conditions for the unique production of high quality, very complex armagnacs, with amazing ageing potential.
The Darroze family has known these exceptional terroirs, these estates, these winegrowers for generations now, and throughout the years a veritable bond has grown between them.
The Darroze stomping ground remains the Bas Armagnac area
Bas-Armagnac, the jewel of appellation
The Armagnac terroir
Different geological, historic and climatic facts explain why the region of Bas-Armagnac produces and has always produced, the finest, the most complex and the most unpredictable eaux-de-vies.
