Domaine Laballe Les Terres Basses Côtes de Gascogne 2024

The Laudet family has been making Armagnac since 1820. The wine thing came later, around the 1980s. Cyril is the eighth generation now, planting resistant grapes, messing around with agroforestry, generally shaking things up while keeping the old ways intact. He has a whole "Armagnac is back" thing going (like Nate with Bordeaux), which is fun.

This comes from the "Sables Fauves," those tawny soils in the Landes that give everything grown there a certain freshness, a finesse. It's a blend of Ugni Blanc, Gros Manseng, and Colombard, basically the Gascony white dream team. It drinks like a Sauvignon Blanc that's been told to calm down a little. Grapefruit, a whisper of passion fruit, crisp and mineral and very, very refreshing.

Bring on the seafood.