A famous wine critic dies and leaves a cellar worth a fortune. Only whoever can identify twelve wines, the “twelve apostles”, and a thirteenth, the “drops of God”, from his descriptions alone may inherit it. Competing are his son, who has never drunk wine, and a brilliant young oenologist the father adopted shortly before his death. So begins “Kami no Shizuku”, the wine manga by Tadashi Agi, pen name of the siblings Shin and Yuko Kibayashi, drawn by Shu Okimoto, serialised from 2004 to 2014 in the magazine “Morning” and collected in 44 volumes.
Wine in images
What sets the manga apart from any wine book is its language. Whoever tastes a wine here falls into images: a Chambolle-Musigny becomes a walk through a forest with a beloved woman, a Chablis a sunrise over oyster beds. It is kitsch with a method: instead of scores and technical terms there are memories and feelings, which is exactly what non-experts actually experience when they drink. The authors taste themselves and describe real wines by name and vintage, from Burgundy grands crus to affordable Bordeaux.
To drop at the apéro
A modest Bordeaux, Château Mont-Pérat 2001, reportedly sold out across Asia within days after the manga praised it: a comic moved more bottles than any critic’s score.
Sold out across Asia
The effect was unprecedented. In Japan, Korea and Taiwan, wines the manga praised sold out within days, most famously Château Mont-Pérat 2001, a modest Bordeaux suddenly sought after across Asia. Importers learned to read the new volumes before their customers did. Decanter magazine put the Kibayashis on its 2009 list of the most influential people in wine. A sequel, “Mariage”, devoted 26 volumes from 2015 to wine with food.
The heir moves to Paris
In 2023 the story returned as a series, this time European: the Apple TV+ production “Drops of God”, a French-Japanese-American project, moves the heir to Paris (Fleur Geffrier as Camille Léger) and pits her against her father’s Japanese protégé (Tomohisa Yamashita), shot in French, Japanese and English, with tastings you can almost smell. In 2024 the series won the International Emmy for best drama series; a second season followed. For beginners, both are a gift: nobody teaches so enjoyably that a wine is first a memory, and only then a grape.