Drops of God

The French sommelier Philippe Bourguignon is clear: "For years we have tried all sorts of things, we have dedicated budgets for promotion, we have tried to tempt the French youth and the rest of Europe to take an interest in the world of wine (. ..) without much success. And it seems that all that we were looking for is in manga (...) able to explain everything in a simpler, more natural way”

This excerpt from the prologue where Bourguignon opens the second issue of the French edition of "Les Gouttes de Dieu" perfectly sums up the phenomenon that Japanese manga ("Kami no Shizuku") has caused in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China, France and since last year, also in the United States.

The Kubayashi brothers, Shin and Yuko decided in 2004 to make their passion for the world of wine their “modus vivendi”, shaping "Kami no Shizuku", the comic that has revolutionized the wine scene in Asia.

The plot, broadly speaking, is as follows: Shizuku Kanzaki confronts his evil step-brother in a race to find the 12 Apostles, 12 wines - (all real) - contained in the will of his recently deceased father. Whoever finds them will inherit the priceless family winery.

The impact of manga has been so great that "Any wine that appears in Les Gouttes de Dieu is immediately incorporated into the wine cellars of the best restaurants in the country", according to several restaurateurs in the Herald Tribune, who even devoted a cover story to the subject.

Note that the bulk of readers of "Kami no Shizuku" in Asia are 30 to 50 years old, a fact that is surprising.

According to Decanter magazine, "Kami no Shizuku is arguably the most influential wine publication of the past 20 years”.