Wine manga--The Drops of God

Since its debut in 2004 in the pages of Kodansha's Morning Magazine, The Drops of God has featured real wines in a fictional story about Shizuku Kanzaki, a young man whose father was a world-renown wine expert and collector of rare wines. Although he grew up surrounded by wine, Shizuku turned his back on his father's world, and took a job as a beer salesman. But after his father dies, Shizuku discovers that his father has an adopted son, Issei Toomine, a 20-something wine critic on the rise.

Shizuku also finds out that his father's will has set forth a challenge for his two sons: they must seek out and correctly identify 13 wines known as the "Twelve Apostles" and the "Les Gouttes de Dieu." The winner of the competition will take ownership of the elder Kanzaki's vast and extremely valuable collection.

The odds seem stacked against Shizuku, given that Issei is armed with years of experience and a depth of knowledge that Shizuku can't match. Although he's relatively inexperienced compared to Issei, Shizuku has inherited his father's refined sense of taste and smell, and he knows a lot about serving wine (there's an early scene in the manga where he pulls off an extremely masterful act of decanting a rare wine). With the help of a Miyabi, a female sommelier-in-training, Shizuku takes readers on an exciting and globe-trotting adventure into the world of wine.

Compared to other foodie-focused manga that North American readers might be familiar with, The Drops of God is less preachy and comedic than Oishinbo, and not as over-the-top silly as shonen manga series like Yakitate Japan or Toriko. Instead, The Drops of God tries to capture the romance, the drama, the history, and the sensual joy of drinking wine, the fascinating people who make, sell and collect wine, and the diverse places where wine is grown, bottled and enjoyed all over the world.

While it's not overly violent or sexually explicit, its subject matter basically means The Drops of God was created for grown-up readers, and will be sold with an "M-Mature" age rating. That said, it's an entertaining story drawn in a relatively realistic style.  As  a result, it has a lot of cross-over potential to reach new audiences who normally aren't into manga or even comics in general.

Kami no Shizuku's influence on wine sales in Asia is substantial. Wines featured in its pages become instant bestsellers in Japan and Korea, a notable trend because these countries do not have a long history of viniculture. Industry watchers have noted that since the debut of Kami no Shizuku, interest in wine, and sales of fine wines in Asia has increased considerably. Jessica Salter, writing for UK's The Daily Telegraph, noted that in South Korea, wine's share of alcohol sales has gone from 30% to almost 70%.

There is already a fair amount of interest and curiosity about The Drops of God in wine circles. In 2009, Decanter Magazine included Kami no Shizuku's creators Shin and Yuko Kobayashi on its list of the top 100 most influential individuals in the wine industry, describing The Drops of God as "arguably the most influential wine publication for the past 20 years."

Kami no Shizuku has also been featured in The New York Times, The Korea Times, The Times of London and is included in an exhibit about wine design and culture, "How Wine Became Modern: Design + Wine 1976 to Now" now on display at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. It has also been adapted as a live-action TV series in Japan and in Korea. Besides being published throughout Asia, it has also been published in France, the home of many of the wines featured in its pages.

Needless to say, as a manga reader and as someone who's interested in the world of wine, Kami no Shizuku / The Drops of God has been on my wish list for a long time. It'll be interesting to see how Vertical will market this fascinating and unconventional graphic novel series to North American readers.