History of the Domain

For generations, the Lalanne family has worked the rich land in the heart of Bas-Armagnac country by the hilly town of Sarragachies in the Gers. The grandfather of the family, Joseph was a farmer here and built the family home, which still stands today. In 1935, at the tender age of 15, the father, Camille, was forced to give up his schooling (where his prospects were deemed to be bright) to take to the fields after the untimely death of Joseph.At the young age of nineteen, Camille planted the first vines on the land and made his grape selection with a view to producing a high quality Armagnac one day. Camille worked his land with devotion until 2010, living at one with nature and in the rhythm of the sun. During these years, Camille refined his Armagnac production process with patience and passion. This devotion earned him respect for his eaux de vie and his craft from his loyal and growing customer base. He put this down to his attention to detail and high quality products. It is this passion of contact with the land, with the product and with the customer that he shared with Patricia, his daughter, who is qualified in viticulture and oenology, and spent time working in marketing in England.

In 2009, Patricia returned to Domain du Cardinat to work alongside her father Camille. After his death in 2010, Patricia, accompanied by her husband, decided to continue the family tradition and enter wholeheartedly the family values at the domain while at the same time adapting the modus operandi by embracing selected modern methods and focusing on the marketing of the domain’s Armagnac. Today, the domain covers seven hectares, of which five are devoted to the production of Armagnac.