I’m a wine fool. I really couldn’t let you know the distinction between wines past having the ability to establish that some are crimson and a few are white. Which is why I’m thrilled that I’m not Camille Leger (performed by Fleur Geffrier), the protagonist of Apple TV+’s new sequence Drops of God, who’s tasked with figuring out a single bottle of wine’s origin and classic in an effort to inherit her estranged father’s multimillion-dollar wine assortment.
Two issues stand in Camille’s approach. The primary is, after all, her full lack of wine information. She additionally has main trauma from the tasting classes her father gave her when she was a toddler, when he’d blindfold her and require her to establish meals after a single chew. The opposite drawback is that she’s received competitors: Issei Tomine (Yamashita Tomohisa), her late father’s protege and an knowledgeable oenologist, additionally stands to inherit the gathering if he can finest Camille in figuring out the wine. Camille’s father described Tomine as his “religious son,” although the sequence drops loads of hints early on that his relationship to the deceased Leger may very well be nearer than he — or Camille — is aware of.
Whereas the topic of wine experience doesn’t appear, on its face, an particularly compelling matter, Drops of God deftly weaves long-suppressed household dysfunction, childhood trauma, and the nuances of oenology right into a sequence that’s price watching, even for those who don’t know a factor about wine. The present, which premiered on Apple TV+ on April 21, is loosely primarily based on the 2004 Japanese manga sequence of the identical identify. Drops of God was written by the sibling duo Yuko and Shin Kibayashi, each of whom are wine lovers with huge bottle collections, below the pseudonym Tadashi Agi. The manga sequence was praised for its life like portrayal of the world of high-end wine tasting, making that usually insular and extremely technical area extra accessible to audiences.
The 2023 TV adaptation is equally compelling. The story is instructed in Japanese, French, and English, relying on the place the scene takes place. The deceased Leger offers each Camille and Issei a month to appropriately establish the wine, so Camille travels from her dad’s residence in Tokyo to a winery in France, the place the main focus shifts to her crash-course in wine schooling. In the meantime, Issei has to determine whether or not or not he’s going to cease screwing round with wine and get an actual job, or take the competitors critically.
In watching simply the primary two episodes, I really feel like I’m getting arrange for an precise wine schooling, one which’s much more more likely to train me a factor or two about varietals and vintages than listening to a very excited sommelier attempt to clarify tasting notes in the course of a restaurant dinner. (That is no knock at sommeliers; I’m unimaginable to show.) The sequence manages to show the straightforward expertise of wine tasting into high-stakes drama, the place all the pieces from its coloration to its viscosity is a necessary clue, mandatory to resolve the thriller on the sequence’ core.
Through its putting and moody cinematography and a bracing soundtrack, Drops of God additionally takes nice benefit of the inherent rigidity within the apply of blind wine tasting. Studying find out how to expertly style wine is one thing that takes years of research, and Camille’s anticipated to soak up a lifetime of experience in just some weeks. And as if being requested to note hints of clay or earth or apricot in a bottle of fermented grape juice isn’t tough sufficient, it’s particularly so when that information — or the shortage thereof — is standing in between you and a large fortune.
As such, even when the one factor you recognize about wine is that you simply prefer it low-cost and plentiful, Drops of God manages to make one thing as seemingly dry and boring as oenology right into a high-stakes, thrilling drama. Right here, intermingling the pursuit of wine perfection with familial expectation and the scars of childhood makes for one hell of a narrative.
And on the very least, even when these eight refined and subdued episodes received’t flip you into an precise wine knowledgeable (or a millionaire, sadly), you’ll positively choose up just a few wine phrases that may impress your mates at dinner. Who knew that ingesting wine may very well be this intriguing?
The primary two episodes of Drops of God are streaming now on Apple+. New episodes drop weekly.
