Learning about wine

[prasantrin]

A friend and I found a fabulous wine shop yesterday, and she kept saying, "This one is supposed to be quite good," while we were checking out the wines. I finally asked her, "How do you know?" and she replied, "It was in my comic book."

In Japan, where I am, there is a manga called "Kami no Shizuku" aka "Drops of God" and it's all about wine. Always wanting to learn more about wine (because I know nothing), I'm looking for an English version. I know it has been translated into Korean, but I have not yet found any info on an English version.

Do you oenophiles think there might be a market for a comic about wine? I think there might be a bit of a snob appeal to wine in the English-speaking world that might preclude an English-version of a wine comic book, but I'm hopeful for a translation of the original.

And if I can't find one, I guess it's a good reason for me to practise reading Japanese...

By the way, at this wine shop a '03 (I think) bottle of Stag's Leap (I can't remember the grape) was going for Y25000 (just over US$200)...or maybe it was Y32000 (about US$270).

Edited to add: if you're interested in seeing what the comic looks like, this blog is a diary of the wines mentioned in the comic. Scroll down for pics of some of the covers. (the site is in Japanese) You can also see pictures of the wines, if you're interested.

[SBonner]

I think it's a great idea if it gets someone interested in learning more about wine.

Stephen Bonner

Vancouver

[blue_dolphin]

I'm resurrecting this ancient thread because the Japanese "Drops of God" manga that @prasantrin mentions above has been adapted by French-Vietnamese screenwriter Quoc Dang Tran into a 2023 eight-episode TV series of the same name in Japanese, French and English https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15282746/   It's available to watch in the US on AppleTV+.  

I've been enjoying it thanks to a mention by @chromedome in another topic. 

 

This got me to circle back to the original manga and I found the that English translation is available on Amazon and the Kindle versions of all 44 volumes are free in both the US and Canada with Amazon Prime: Drops of God on Kindle.  The TV series is more of a psychological drama set and beautifully filmed in the world of wine while the manga has the time to share a lot more wine information and is really something that one could learn about wine from so I though I'd mention it here in case anyone is interested in checking it out.  I'm enjoying it. 

 

There's a 26-volume follow-on called "Marriage: The Drops of God Final Arc" that goes into food pairing.  I don't believe it's been translated into English. Maybe interest from the TV series might nudge them to license it.  If anyone knows more, do share. 

[Mike.12lu]

If you want to learn about wine you have to go in France, it's the country of the wine

[liuzhou]

5 hours ago, Mike.12lu said:

If you want to learn about wine you have to go in France, it's the country of the wine

 

If you want to learn about French wine, maybe. But probably, not. There is a lot more to wine than just France. And French wine isn't only available in France.

[Midlife]

I just watched a really good documentary that will help a lot if you are interested in the ‘how’ of wine. It’s called A Perfect Vintage and is available on the streaming services FreeVee, Roku and Prime Video. 
 

It showcases the 2013 vintage in the Napa Valley but goes deeply into terroir, vineyard management, harvest, winemaking and is extremely well done featuring winery owners and mostly winemakers. Very educational. 
 

Drops of God (the series) is very good too and it goes more into tasting wine. 

Edited August 10, 2023 by Midlife (log)

[Mike.12lu]

True. But i think that to learn you must go in the best country for what you want to learn. Australian, Spain and France seems to be the best here https://www.capital.fr/economie-politique/le-pays-qui-fait-le-meilleur-vin-nest-pas-la-france-mais-1471077#:~:text=australiens.,l'Italie (sept).. The article is in french but i'm sure you can translate or find a page that talk about this. But it's true you don't really have to go to France or even consider the French wine. Just because i'm french lol.