I never knew wine tasting could be so intense when I watched Drops of God on Apple TV Plus – although, I should have known from the dramatic title. After guzzling through this show, I’m still amazed at how Drops of God took an activity stereotyped for rich millionaires and transformed it into an intoxicating thriller that anyone can watch – whether you’re an inexperienced wine drinker like me, or don’t like wine in general.
I know I’m a bit late to the party given that Drops of God was released back in April 2023, but despite becoming one of the Apple TV Plus dramas to earn a flawless 100% Rotten Tomatoes score, I had never heard of it until recently – and I think more people need to have a taste of this hidden gem.
Drops of God proves to be thirsty work, so you’ll definitely need to pour a glass of something when you tuck in to this stylish French-Japanese drama. Based on the hit manga series of the same name by Tadashi Agi (which actually sparked a wine boom in Japan and South Korea), Drops of God starts with Camille Léger (Fleur Geffrier), the estranged daughter of famous wine aficionado Alexandre Léger (Stanley Weber) who learns that her father has passed away.
He leaves behind his extensive wine cellar thought to be the most important private collection in the world and worth over $100 million. However, instead of doing the normal thing of just giving it away to his daughter, he concocts an intense competition to determine who will inherit the wine. Before Camille can claim her huge inheritance, she must compete against talented young oenologist and her father’s protégé Issei (Tomohisa Yamashita) in a series of tests which involves identifying a number of wines through sight, smell and taste.
The drama is as addictive as the wine
You think Camille has an advantage since she was trained from a young age to have a refined palate from the “God of wine” himself, but there’s just one issue holding her back – she doesn’t drink. Not only that, but she has developed a physical aversion to alcohol, so much so that all it takes is one sip and she will pass out or her nose bleeds uncontrollably. It soon becomes apparent that she’s in for tough competition when it comes to her gifted opponent and father’s “spiritual son” Issei.
Camille goes on a journey to tackle this problem by going to a vineyard in France owned by a friend of her father’s and tasting different wines to correctly determine which wine is which in the competition. While all this wine sniffing and swirling may seem boring, Drops of God keeps you invested with a visual spectacle of Camille’s internal experience. As she smells and tastes the wine, Camille is transported to a memory palace where she sorts through cabinets and heaps of disarray to find the right tasting notes. Before being hit with bursts of color as a note of liquorice or celery root bombards her brain. Sometimes it’s just as bizarre in the real world as Camille goes on a clandestine mission to get a sniff of a rare wine on a millionaire’s table that costs $10,000 a bottle.
Infused with the notes of drama is complicated family dynamics and fractured personal lives from the main characters. Of course at first I believed that Camille was the rightful owner of the wine, since she is his daughter after all, but my heart was torn when their true motivations and troubles came to light as to why they wanted to claim the wine collection. For Camille, it’s to prove herself in the world after a troubled life and for Issei, he wants to pursue his passion while his family threaten to disown him.
Their heartbreaking personal reasons made an impact on me and I even found myself saying to my partner: “I don’t know who I want to win.” This predicament only gets trickier when shocking secrets come to light that make the characters so much more fascinating and complex.
Tastes as good as it looks
Following the likes of one of the best Apple TV Plus shows Pachinko, Drops of God is another multilingual series to add to its already stellar library. But not only does Drops of God taste good, it also looks sublime.
Drops of God jumps from Camille and Issei’s homelands of France and Japan, but both countries are shown in stunningly different ways. French vineyards lavish in glorious golden sunshine, while Tokyo is awash with modern cool tones like blue and gray. The contrasting colors are much like the two characters personalities, with Camille being fiery and spritely, while Issei is reserved and composed.
As someone whose wine knowledge is very limited and couldn’t tell you the difference between a Pinot Grigio or a Sauvignon Blanc, I felt as if I was being injected with expertise as they listed off whether the wine had notes of moss or chalk. While I don’t think I’ll be an expert sommelier anytime soon, I can’t wait to pop the cork and see what’s to come now that Drops of God has been renewed for season two.
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