For those of you who haven’t joined, the serious brandy discussion group on Facebook is probably the best source for brandy info. Some people here post there. A lot of significant people in the brandy world as well.
As someone who bought his first bottle of vintage Armagnac about 25 years ago let me tell you - prices have increased significantly.
I remember the glory days when D&M carried 30 or so vintages/producers of Darroze at any given time with most of them under $200. I wish I could have afforded to stock up back then but I would only buy a second bottle when a first was almost gone.
Now if you want to argue that there is a lot of cognac/armagnac that is still somewhat underpriced compared to items of similar quality elsewhere then I’ll agree.
The same days when DRC couldn’t give away Ech, GE, and RSV and “made” people buy them in mixed cases?
That was a little earlier. But not much 
I mean a very good 30 year old cognac like Normandin Mercier XO is still only $100 a bottle right now. How much is macallan 25? I doubt it was that much cheaper 10-20 years ago.
I think years ago it was much harder to get these independently bottled artisanal cognac and Armagnac in the US.
I have no idea about cognac since I’m more of an Armagnac person.
I think the difference 25 years ago for Armagnac is that there were fewer places where you could get high end bottles but the ones that did (mostly D&M) had a huge selection which seemed like it would never run out.
Had 1976 normandin mercier 40 ans petite champagne tonight, this is bonkers.
Peanut brittle and fruitcake on the nose, with some baking spices on the palate. Unimaginably long finish. I think they only made 800 bottles of this and I own nearly 5% haha
Curious, how do you rate Tesseron and Delmain cognacs?
Tesseron is ok but a really bad value compared to other smaller artisanal producers. It’s a bit mass market and production is on a more industrial volume. I think 53 and 29 aren’t bad. It’s not as high production as Remy or Hennessy etc. Delamain is sort of in the same boat.
If you drew a comparison to champagne, remy martin/Hennessy would be veuve and tesseron would be maybe… ruinart or something, whereas the small artisanal producers would be high quality growers like Collin, Vilmart, Peters, Selosse, etc.
Jay - Did you ever go to Gasgogne in Chelsea where they had dozens of bottles of Darroze and would put on the Armagnac Show if you ordered one? Bring out the whole tray, put a dab on your pulse points, warm the snifter swirling it between the hands…There always seemed to be an incredibly attractive young man doing that part, which was not surprising (or objectionable!) in Chelsea.
I lived around the corner in 1994-5 and would go often with my girlfriend at the time and that’s where I first learned about Armagnac.
It seems like darroze (and maybe Labaude) were the only producers brought in back in the day
124, 187 are the gold standard of those early picks imo.
Still nursing my bottles! 
Michael, have you had Bernandin Mercier La Peraudiere? I would like to order a couple of them.
Thans for this excellent thread.
Otto
The 500 mL one? Yeah it’s outstanding. Cask strength too. It’s incredible.
That is the one Michael, and thanks for the advice.
Order placed for 2 bottles.
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I have been stocking up on laberdolive lately.
I think you will really like it. Normandin mercier is my favorite brandy producer. They have an uncanny ability to make spirits that are complex and beautiful and aged for extended periods of time without being oaky. I don’t understand how really. The tres vielle is 100+ years in wood but not overly woody. The cognac you bought was aged in barrels from trees cut from their estate.
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Where? They don’t sell it in GA it seems.
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Blackwells, D&M and Crush
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