Esilda and Maximen Fontan received Château du Maubet as a wedding gift, and for several generations, it served as a general purpose farm before Aline and Jean-Claude Fontan decided to make the property exclusively a wine-producing estate. The Fontan family became one of the first families in Gascony to bottle their own wine, rather than distilling it all to produce Armagnac. Today, Aline and Jean-Claude’s children Nadège and Sylvain are carrying on the tradition. Their work distills the noble qualities of this region, producing high-quality Armagnac from the prestigious Appellation Contrôlée “Bas-Armagnac” region. Their Armagnac is made with the greatest of care respecting the traditional and authentic skills from Gascony. Wines of Baco and Ugni Blanc are carefully distilled in the estate’s cellar still and aged in oak barrels.

The Fontan XO shows a dramatic transformation of what double the aging can do for an Armagnac, as this is a blend of barrels with a minimum age of ten years. Rich brown with hints of copper in the glass, the XO overloads the senses with aromas of dried red fruit, brown sugar and notes of pecan pie and maple. The XO is rounder and richer on the palate than the VSOP with a soft texture and smooth flavors of tiramisu, toffee, molasses and dried cherries. The finish is decadent and endless.