Raymond Baudoin, the founder of Vin de France magazine and the Academie du Vin de France was very well known in the quality wine growing circles where he encouraged and promoted direct sales. He was astounded by the stunning quality of the armagnacs of Jean-Baptiste Boingnères, and immediately arranged for the spirits to be sent to the finest restaurants in Paris.

In 1948, Marguerite Boingnères, Jean-Baptiste's daughter, married Leon Lafitte. The son of a tradesman, Lafitte was born in Labastide d'Armagnac, a small village near Le Frêche. He became an officer in the French army and spent five years as a prisoner of the Germans during the Second World War. In 1946, he retired from the army and returned to his native village. He later became mayor, a post he held for eighteen years.

In the early fifties, an adjoining property was bought and added to the estate. Lafitte continued producing Armagnac while prolonging his activities as a broker. In 1956, after a serious illness acquired while a prisoner of war, he put an end to his brokering activities. From then on, he focused his attention solely on the armagnacs of Boingnères.

He spent the next forty years restoring the vineyards; rather than following tradition, he began planting less and less Bacco and concentrated on the noble varieties: Ugni Blanc, Colombard and, particularly, Folle Blanche. He built a new winery, and fitted it with a horizontal press – something rare in the region at the time. To be able to distill when and how he wanted, he installed his own still in 1975. The following year, a new barrel house was built.

Rather than blending the varieties together and then distilling, Leon also distilled the varieties separately and then blended them afterwards. In 1953, the stocks of armagnac at Boingnères stood at about 40 barrels. By the early nineties, the stock had risen to nearly 560 barrels. The Boingnères armagnacs had become heavily sought out by connoisseurs, and available at top restaurants and serious stores worldwide.

In 1994, on the final day that Folle Blanche was being distilled, Leon Lafitte died after a long and painful illness. He was buried in the cemetery nearby in St. Vidou, with his feet facing the direction of his property. His wife Marguerite and daughter Martine took over, running the business as their father had with complete attention to detail. In 2004, Marguerite succumbed to a long illness, leaving the domaine in Martine's hands alone. She has continued with the same spirit as Leon and the reputation of the domaine has been taken to even further heights.

Martine Lafitte in 2004

The Boingnères estate vineyards cover 21 hectares (52 acres), 13 of which are planted in Folle blanche, 4.5 in Colombard and 4 in Ugni blanc. Average yield per hectare is between 80 and 90 hectolitres. These grapes hit between 8 and 9 percent alcohol with a high acidity level, perfect for distillation.

The winery has two Vaslin horizontal presses. The free run juice from the first three pressings sequences are used for distillation. The juice is pumped into the fermentation tanks where yeast is added. Sulfur is avoided, because it gives the distilled product a bad taste. Instead, the wine is distilled as soon as possible after fermentation, sur lie, which helps give the distillate more finesse and complexity.

Distilling takes place during the month of November in a continuous Sier still purchased in 1975. This beautiful still, with nine exiting plates, captures all the fine aromas of the wine. The alcohol comes out at 52%, then goes into new oak barrels.

Much of the oak at Boingnères actually comes from the Gascon forests. Martine contracts trees every year, and air dries the staves next to one of the chai. They are then fabricated into 420 liter barrels by the small local tonnelier Gilles Bartholomo. Gilles grandfather actually made the barrels for Martine's grandfather fifty years ago!

The barrels then go into one of the two Boingnères chai, both of which are relatively dry; consequently the alcohol level descends very slowly, so that even after twenty years, some barrels have only lost three degrees of alcohol! As traditionally Armagnac is released without being reduced in alcohol and Martine Lafitte is a strict traditionalist, the armagnacs at Boingnères are released at cask strength to ensure their absolute purity.