Samalens

Samalens Armagnac is produced by the Maison Samalens, founded way back in 1882 by Jean Samalens and now carried on by his great-grandsons Pierre and Philippe. The company is located in a small village in the Bas Armagnac region: Laujuzan. The area, famous for the production of this distillate, thanks to the soil rich in clay and very fine sand, supplies the Ugni Blanc grapes for the production of Armagnac. These are collected in the area bordering Gers and Landes (Grand Bas Armagnac), a strip where light boulbènes, i.e. thin layers of silt, are found. The aging of the distillate takes place in Gascony black oak barrels, built with handmade staves and seasoned for at least five years. Maison Semalens wanted to maintain the "knowledge of tradition" and continues processing thanks to the use of four single column stills. These, in a hundred years, have never undergone changes, except in 1962, when they introduced the use of gas used for heating. Double distillation, however, is carried out with copper stills in which the fine lees are used in order to obtain various floral facets. The wine made from Ugni Blanc grapes is distilled in two percentages: 70% with single column stills and 30% with double distillation stills. The Maison also produces a wine, always created with grapes grown in the Bas Armagnac region. In this way Semalens has created a summer Armagnac, one of a kind, even if almost impossible to find. Among the characteristics that best distinguish the products of Maison Semalens we find the total absence of sugar in the bottled products. This characteristic guarantees a natural product with unaltered final result. Excellence!