AAA Roy family fans wanted, with all the conspiracies and dysfunctions that the name (and the media empire it tells about) Succession) carries with it: do not despair. It’s true: HBO’s hit hit hit series is hurtling quickly into the pits after an exhilarating run, and that might make you sad. But, on Apple TV+, there is already a new pretender to the throne of highly toxic dynastic narratives (both for the protagonists and for the spectators). It is a Franco-Japanese co-production in which there are two challengers who will spare no blows to win a multi-million dollar inheritance: it’s called Drops of God (Italian title: Nectar of the gods), and the prize we are talking about consists of rare, well aged, very precious bottles of wine. Why Drops of God it speaks precisely of this: of good wine, which amazes at the first nose, seduces at the second, and conquers at the sip.
As in the most classic of situations, Drops of God begins with a death: that of Alexandre Léger (Stanley Weber), renowned connoisseur and lover of wine and everything that revolves around the world of enology and viticulture. Léger has spent his life writing a series of annual wine guides (as if it were The wines of Italy of Gambero Rosso, but by a single author-superstar and scattered throughout the world) and to collect bottles. Eighty-seven thousand to be precise, and this is the first part of his inheritance. The second is a villa in Tokyo, where he had moved from his native France. Together, his net worth amounts to more than a hundred million dollars. And, to assign it as a legacy, Léger did not draw up a classic will, but a Squid Game of taste: three tests based on the knowledge of his only passion, designed for only two challengers.
The first is Camille (Fleur Geffrier), his daughter. Camille has an exceptional palate, a real natural affinity with flavors and the facets of taste which, we are immediately told, Alexandre never misses the opportunity to train, starting her from a very young age in the practice of blind tasting. But something, in the twenty-nine year old Camille who accompanies us in the history of the present, has broken. She only eats rice, potatoes and green beans to “not feel anything” and she doesn’t touch any more wine. When her father dies, she hadn’t seen or heard from him for ten years due to a mysterious shadow-event, something that triggered her, taking her away from her gift. The second challenger is Tomine Issei (Tomohisa Yamashita), a pupil of Léger in the oenology courses he held in Japan, the same age as Camille and “a man who guesses wines just by smelling them”. And in fact, a couple of sniffs would be enough for Issei to tell you the name, estate, and year of production of the wine in question. The challenge, for Camille, seems to begin with a climb from first gear.
The identification between Camille’s point of view and that of the spectator is natural and immediate. Sommelier aside, the cleverness – and the reason for the success – of Drops of God it is in fact in making the viewer participate in the journey of the heroine-Camille from the first minute. While the protagonist moves from mentor to mentor, trying to recover the gap with her rival, much more skilled than her (as if it were a video game), even those who enjoy the show take home two notions (indeed, much more) , excellent bow arrows for the next gallant appointment or a drink with friends. So, as we said, first nose: the wine is poured into the glass. Still, we check its color against a white surface. Then we smell and describe the aromas we distinguish. At this point, it’s time for the second nose: let’s oxygenate the wine, smell again. In this passage, Camille is subjected to visions and splashes of Holi Festival-like powder colors, but reactions can also be more composed, so don’t worry if it happens to you in black and white. Finally, finally, the tasting. But be careful, it must not be swallowed. And, if you were brought to a tasting a practical Chinese takeaway-type paper box – yes, that’s where you have to spit.
Fleur Geffrier (Camille Léger) in a scene from ‘Drops of God’. Photo: Apple TV+
Come for the entertainment, stay for the lesson, In short. Both to see who will be able to take home the inheritance, but also to take some notes on a subject often surrounded by the aura of initiates of a Masonic sect. An operation that had, in truth, already begun in 2004. Why Drops of God it’s not a completely original script, but an adaptation from a very popular manga series in Japan: The Drops of God, created by brother-sister duo Yuko and Shin Kibayashi (aka Tadashi Agi) and illustrated by Shu Okimoto. Manga which, in its 44 releases, made a small revolution in the way the Japanese approached the “nectar of the gods”.
The story of the manga sees two male compatriots, Japanese, compete for the legacy of a celebrated sommelier. Again a duel, but based on the identification and description of twelve “celestial wines”, hence the title of the publication. The Drops of God it really made a sensation in the Japanese market, influencing the sales of some bottles in East Asia and making its fictional protagonist Shizuku Kanzaki a real wine influencer, capable of moving large sums of money with each new release of the manga. If in an issue Kanzaki had drunk, for example, a Château Mont Perat 2001, the value of that particular bottle would have immediately increased, with lots of readers and new enthusiasts, unleashed, ready to go hunting for that treasure. So much so that, in 2010, the wine producer Jean-Pierre Amoreau was forced to withdraw a particular bottle from the market after it was mentioned in The Drops of Godfor fear that the price would fall victim to speculation.
Fleur Geffrier (Camille Léger) mentre assaggia alla cieca a Chateauneuf du Papein in ‘Drops of God’. Photo: Apple TV+
Who knows if, in the near future, we will find ourselves relying on the advice of Drops of God, the Apple series, rather than resorting to the various wine aggregators on the net to choose the bottle to take to the next dinner with friends and trying to detach, as always, a real figure. At the time and at the end of the season the arduous sentence.
In the meantime, the advice is to make a good note of all the names that appear in the series, just in case (one example among many: Château Cheval Blanc 2000, a millino per bottle). And then, why not, letting yourself go to the pleasure of tasting a fast-paced story with a paradoxically easy palate, after which, probably, you will want to go running around the fields like children, smelling flowers, musks, and every something that happens to you just to refine those taste buds (at a certain point Camille stealthily leans over the earth of a vineyard and tastes just a hint, and it can be an inspiration). Maybe you will see it with a good glass of wine. And rest assured that, from the sofa, no one will notice if you swallow the sip instead of spitting it out.
2023-05-14 06:00:00
#Drops #God #Succession #wine
