Armagnac

[After ARMAGNAC¹.]

[ahr-mahn-YAK] One of the world's two great brandies (the other being cognac), Armagnac comes from Gascony, near Condom, a town southeast of Bordeaux. It's traditionally distilled once (as opposed to cognac's double distillation) at a relatively low temperature. This single distillation leaves more flavoring elements and produces a hearty, full-flavored spirit that's silky smooth. Armagnacs are aged in black oak (for up to 40 years), which imparts more flavor and allows for faster aging than the Limousin used for Cognac. Despite the fact that Armagnac was first made at least 200 years before cognac, the latter outsells Armagnac today by almost seven to one.

[ahr-muhn-YAK] A fine French brandy from the Armagnac region, which is situated southeast of bordeaux. The region consists of three subregions-Bas-Armagnac, Tenareze, and Haut-Armagnac. Although almost as highly regarded as cognac Armagnac is of a different style. It's distilled (see distillation) only once and, therefore, has a lower alcoholic strength (generally about 53 percent alcohol) than Cognac (about 70 percent), which undergoes a double distillation process. This single distillation also leaves more flavoring elements in the distilled spirit. Armagnac employs the local black oak for aging instead of the Limousin oak used for Cognac. Black oak imparts more flavor to the Armagnac and allows for faster aging. The result is that Armagnac is silky smooth but fuller-flavored than Cognac, although it generally doesn't have the finesse of the finest Cognacs.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: dry brandy distilled in the Armagnac district of France