Few have done so much to retrieve Armagnac’s past glories from neglect as Francis Darroze, a former Michelin-starred chef and Relais & Châteaux hotelier. In 1974, with the region’s economy in the doldrums and Armagnac sales flagging, Darroze began buying up the small stocks of brandies languishing in family-farm distillers’ barns. Aging the spirits in