Floc de Gascogne is the Armagnac region’s answer to the pineau des charentes of Cognac. This strong, sweet red and white vin de liqueur, awarded aoc status in 1990, is made by arresting the fermentation of local grape juice at an early stage by adding young armagnac, which in this case must have been produced by the same enterprise. The resulting liquid, of which about 17% is alcohol, is aged for at least nine months (although not necessarily in wood, as for Pineau). It is usually drunk as an aperitif but is also much used by Gascony’s famously resourceful chefs.
