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Domain: Domaine d'Ognoas

The Ognoas estate owes its existence to the Lormands, a family of wine merchants from Bayonne. In 1770, Etienne Lormand first bought the seigneury of Ognoas, founded in the late 11th century, and then five years later his son bought the seigneury of Tampouy, founded in 1343. In 1847, the estate was inherited by the Church after Etienne Taurin Lormand died without an heir. The Church then transferred the property to the government along with various other diocesan properties in the region following the passing of the 1905 Act to separate Church and State, and it is today run by the Conseil Général des Landes. Records of armagnac production at the property exist from as far back as 1780, but the first copper still was not built until 1804. This still, which is the oldest in Gascony to remain in use, was added to the Supplementary Inventory of Historical Monuments by the Landes Departmental Commission for Antiques and Artefacts in 2006. Wood-fired, every year it distils 800 hectolitres of wine to produce 150 hectolitres of armagnac. The armagnacs are then aged in 420-litre barrels built from oak grown in the estate’s 350-hectare forest by a local cooper who also chooses the trees before felling. Altogether, the estate spans 565 hectares planted with Baco, Ugni Blanc and Folle Blanche.