Interest
Winery Pulls Vintage After Mention in Kami no Shizuku
posted on by Gia Manry
French winemaker Jean-Pierre Amoreau pulled the 2003 vintage of his winery Château le Puy in response to the wine's appearance in the finale of the Japanese live-action drama adaptation of Tadashi Agi and Shū Okimoto's wine manga Kami no Shizuku. The day after the episode's broadcast in March 2009, 150 orders were placed from Japan and some Japanese fans even traveled to Paris to purchase the vintage. Amoreau responded by pulling the wine from agents in order to prevent speculation. He keeps "a small stock" for connoisseurs.
The manga Kami no Shizuku, also known as Les Gouttes de Dieu, revolves around a young man seeking to inherit his father's wine collection who has competition in the form of his father's adopted son. The father was a wine critic, and in order to inherit the vast array of wines, the two sons must compete to identify 13 obscure wines.
A representative from Glénat, the publisher who localizes Kami no Shizuku in French, reported that some of the chosen winemakers had seen their Asian exports double or triple, and commented that "[the manga's authors] were quite surprised that they were able to influence the French market like this, as the choices are based on their personal tastes." The Guardian newspaper also notes that the winemaker whose vintage appears in the final arc of the series — not due for several years — may see an even larger jump.
The Kami no Shizuku manga launched in 2004 and has driven wine sales for several years. In 2008, two live-action TV drama adaptations were announced: one in Korea and one in Japan. This past April, the CNNGo website reported that the creators of Kami no Shizuku were expecting an English release for the manga by the end of the year.
[Via: The Guardian, Shintaromori, Katherine15e, Macambe]
