That is, this Culver City sommelier serves a 2020 François Rousset-Martin ‘Couvée du Professeur Sous-Roche’ Savignin Cotes du Jura while explaining the alcohol that evaporates during the aging process is called the ‘Angel’s Share.’
Legend has it guardian angels sample and bless the wine, then take their portion to the heavens. The dynamic freshness of the ouillé releases hints of caramelization, doing the marl soils of the storied Château-Chalon appellation proud this Friday evening east of the 405.
I enjoy its long finish, learning ‘this wine could make a compelling marriage with the notoriously difficult-to-pair artichoke.’ Our host slides my French Wine Scholar friend and me tiny wings of Comté cheese to lift the complexity. I too have been difficult to pair,
have been in symbiosis with a wine cellar environment, breathing the ambient yeast of motherhood, changing physically and evaporating from a once compelling marriage. Sample a year of separation in the City of Angels.
After twenty-six years in his Burgundian barrel under a vaulted ceiling, I am not a viticultural wonder nor a profoundly human expression but an absence. Mere product loss. In Whiskey distillation, the remaining drink is called the ‘Devil’s Cut.’