A 10-year-old Bas-Armagnac from the estate that runs Gascony's oldest working still, an alambic armagnacais built in 1804 that has never been taken out of service. Domaine d'Ognoas sits in Arthez-d'Armagnac in the Landes, and its history is unusual even for brandy country. It began as a lordly manor and later belonged to the Church. Under the 1905 law separating Church and State it passed to the Département, and today the Landes General Council runs it as a showcase for the region. (Yes, this is Armagnac made by local government, and they take it very seriously.) What we love is how local the whole operation is: the domaine distills Baco, Folle Blanche and Ugni Blanc and ages them first in new 420-liter barrels made at a nearby cooperage from staves cut in its own forest. From felled tree to finished barrel, the wood travels only about five kilometers. For anyone who has only ever reached for Cognac, this is an honest, characterful way into Armagnac, and the domaine's own advice is to pour its 10-year-old as a digestif.