I've heard about this manga, The Drops of God by Tadashi Agi/Shu Okimoto, for a good year or two now. As you know, I'm a huge comic book nerd. My manga reading isn't as high but I do try to pick some up here and there. This finally became available in English last September but it had fallen off of my radar. Suddenly, it was back! My good pal Mike gave it to me for a belated Christmas present last week and I devoured the first volume in days. I immediately bought the second volume and am halfway through. Volumes 3-5 are available later in the year and you can bet your hot patootie that I'll be snatching them up.
Oh, what's it about, you ask? WINE! Yes, wine. If you don't know, I've worked in the bar industry in NYC for years and have been a bartender/bar manager. I know my wines pretty well though never went for my sommelier certification. I enjoy drinking all kinds of wine and learning about it as well. I'm a bit of a liquor/wine/beer nerd too!
This manga accurately educates and entertains you about wine without doing it in a snobby manner. Sure, it's a manga so there is a bit of hyperbolizing here and there. ALL of the wines presented in it are real ones. (I've even tasted a few of them in real life). Sure, some are way out of our price range but it's fun to read about them. And they talk about plenty of more affordable ones as well. Oh, there's a story too. Boy howdy, is there a story! Basic wiki plot:
"Kanzaki Shizuku is a junior employee in a Japanese beverages company mainly focusing on selling beers. As the story opens, he receives news that his father, from whom he is estranged, has died. His father was the world renowned wine critic Kanzaki Yutaka, who owned a vast and famous wine collection. Summoned to the family home, a splendid European style mansion, to hear the reading of his father's will, Shizuku learns that, in order to take ownership of his legacy, he must correctly identify, and describe in the manner of his late father, thirteen wines, the first twelve known as the "Twelve Apostles" and the thirteenth known as the "Drops of God", that his father has described in his will. He also learns that he has a competitor in this, a renowned young wine critic called Toomine Issei, who his father has apparently recently adopted as his other son.
Shizuku has never drunk wine, in part a reaction against the ruling passion of his late father, nor had any previous knowledge about wines. However, with strong senses of taste and smell, and an uncanny ability to describe his experiences from those senses, Shizuku submerges himself in the world of wine and tries to solve the mysteries of the 13 wines and defeat Issei. In this, he is also helped by knowledge gained from his time as a child with his father, and supported by his friends (including trainee sommelier Shinohara Miyabi) and colleagues in the newly formed wine department of his company, which he now joins."
Reading up on it, it's been going since 2004 and apparently is STILL running. Which worries me as I fear it will never finish and I'll be reading it forever. Awaiting to find out the mystery of the 13 wines! And it's influence on the wine industry in Japan and South Korea is quite significant. Sales in wines mentioned have increased dramatically. There was also a live action TV series a few years back that influenced sales as well. (I just ordered it and can't wait to see it). Not to mention, it is highly regarded by the wine industry. Decanter magazine says it is "arguably the most influential wine publication for the past 20 years".
As a bartender, I enjoy doing wine tastings and educating people on what they are drinking. That is, if they are open to new experiences. From now on, maybe I'll just carry a copy of volume one (clocking in at 400+ pages!) with me at all times to teach.
What are you waiting for? Go grab a copy and read it while drinking a nice glass of Bordeaux. Cheers!
Guess which one of the Hustler girls is the mommy? 