Delord and Dominique Bouchait explore Armagnac and cheese pairings

For the festive season, Delord has joined forces with Dominique Bouchait, a Meilleur Ouvrier de France in cheese mongering since 2011, to present a tasting journey built around five Armagnacs and five cheeses.

Armagnac is often served at the end of a meal, after the cheese board has been cleared. Delord suggests bringing the two together. Working with Dominique Bouchait, the Gers-based house has devised five pairings that explore texture, maturation and aroma, from the freshness of a Blanche d’Armagnac to the depth of a blend of very old eaux-de-vie.

The journey begins with Delord’s Blanche d’Armagnac and a young Ossau-Iraty AOP. The spirit’s notes of pear, citrus and green almond meet the milky character and gentle richness of the sheep’s milk cheese. Delord VSOP Bas-Armagnac is then paired with Comté AOP matured for 18 to 24 months. Here, the Armagnac’s rounded texture complements the dense cheese, while their savoury and nutty flavours linger together. The subsequent pairings grow in intensity. Delord Hors d’Âge meets a mature Salers AOP, whose notes of dried hay, toasted hazelnut and woodland echo the spirit’s prune, walnut and rancio character. The 25-year-old Bas-Armagnac is paired with Roquefort AOP: the cheese’s saltiness provides a counterpoint to notes of dried fruit, cocoa and roasted coffee. Finally, L’Authentique, a blend of very old Armagnacs, is served with a farmhouse Laguiole AOP matured for 12 to 18 months. Both are shaped by time, with flavours spanning dried fruit, spice and toasted cereals.

At the helm of Les Fromagers du Mont Royal, Bouchait has arranged the selection as a progression from fresher to more powerful pairings. For Delord, the family house founded in 1893 in Lannepax, Gers, the collaboration offers another way to discover its spirits: at the table, alongside cheeses whose varying degrees of maturation bring out different facets of Armagnac.