What is "armagnac"

The county of Armagnac (; Gascon Armanhac), situated between the Adour and Garonne rivers in the lower foothills of the Pyrenées, is a historic county of the Duchy of Gascony, established in 601 in Aquitaine (now France). It is a region in southwestern France that includes parts of the Departments of Gers, Landes, and Lot-et-Garonne.

The region is predominantly agricultural and is noted for its Armagnac brandy, the oldest French brandy.

Once an important county, it reached its greatest power and extent during the 14th and 15th centuries.

Armagnac may refer to:

• Armagnac (province), a region of France
• Armagnac (brandy), a type of brandy
• Armagnac (party), a prominent French political party during the Hundred Years' War
• House of Armagnac, a French noble house
• Count of Armagnac
• Armagnac battalion, a resistance group in Toulouse organized by George Reginald Starr in advance of the Normandy invasion
• SNCASE Armagnac, a large French airliner of the late 1940s

Armagnac (; ) is a distinctive kind of brandy produced in the Armagnac region in Gascony, southwest France. It is distilled from wine usually made from a blend of grapes including Baco 22A, Colombard, Folle blanche and Ugni blanc, traditionally using column stills rather than the pot stills used in the production of Cognac. The resulting spirit is then aged in oak barrels before release. Production is overseen by the Institut national de l'origine et de la qualité (INAO) and the Bureau National Interprofessionel de l'Armagnac (BNIA).

Armagnac was one of the first areas in France to begin distilling spirits, but the overall volume of production is far smaller than Cognac production and therefore is less known outside Europe. In addition, they are for the most part made and sold by small producers, whereas Cognac production is dominated by big-name brands.

The Armagnac party was prominent in French politics and warfare during the Hundred Years' War. It was allied with the supporters of Charles, Duke of Orléans against John the Fearless after Charles' father Louis of Orléans was killed at the orders of the Duke of Burgundy in 1407. The party took its name from Charles' father-in-law, Bernard VII, Count of Armagnac, who guided the young Duke during his teens and provided much of the financing and some of the seasoned Gascon troops that besieged Paris before their defeat at Saint-Cloud. Later, John the Fearless was sent back to his lands, and Bernard of Armagnac remained in Paris and, some say, in the queen's bed. He was assassinated in 1419.

Sporadic warfare continued between the Armagnacs and Burgundians for a number of years, although after the Burgundians allied themselves with the English in 1419 and the Armagnacs became interlinked with the cause of Charles VII, the factional rivalry was scarcely distinguishable from the Royal dispute between the French and English monarchies. The terms remained in use until they were outlawed by Charles VII toward the close of the Hundred Years' War, as part of efforts to heal the factional rift.