Land of Armagnac, foie gras and duck confit

I am in Southwestern France, in a small village of 300 people.  My friends own a country home here, a beautifully restored 18th century stone house surrounded by fruit trees - figs, plums and cherries. The rolling hills remind me of Italy and indeed this area is called the 'Tuscany of France'.  It's Fall and all the sunflowers have been harvested.  I can only imagine how beautiful this area must be with all the vibrant yellow sunflowers covering the fields. 

The specialties of this area are foie gras, duck confit and Armagnac. We had home-made foie gras for lunch (from the neighbors) with some just-picked figs from the two fig trees outside the house -picture below.  The foie gras was so good, and so timely as well since California just banned foie gras in July. We had duck confit for dinner, followed by sips of Armagnac. For people who might not be familiar with Armagnac, it is single-distilled, compared to its twice-distilled cousin, Cognac. Apparently, two distillations make a spirit more refined, but also strips away more flavor and aroma.  Armagnac is considered more robust and assertive, compared to the more popular and more widely available cognac.