Entertaining Family Drama - But The Factual Wine Errors Are Horrible (While The Original Manga Is Very Accurate)
Having read the very long manga series collected in 44 (!) volumes - the entire original manga is available digitally in English via Kindle Unlimited, highly recommended - I had high hopes for this new TV drama series (available on Apple TV+.).
(This is actually the second screen adaptation. There is an older series from Japan that sticks much closer to the original manga, i.e. It features two male Japanese protagonists and fewer foreigners in general. The new Apple series exchanges one of the two main Japanese protagonists for a young woman from France and alters many other key events and settings, probably in order to appeal to a wider and more diverse audience in Western countries. The new 2023 series also shortened or left out plot details, otherwise quite a few seasons would have been needed to turn all the 439 manga chapters collected in 44 comic book volumes into one TV series).
I will limit my review to the subject of wine here, since wine culture and blind tasting wine in all its shapes and forms is the main backdrop of the story arc and unfolding family drama.
There unfortunately are many obvious errors (that don't even make any sense in the liberty of film-making or advancing the plot):
The French woman going from passing out from a drop of wine to drinking huge gulps within days is very hard to believe. This is not part of the manga's plot and the script authors could have found a much better way to justify her initial distaste for wine.
Not even a MW (Master Of Wine, a title obtained after passing the most difficult exam in the Wine World globally, only a few hundred people in the World are MW diploma holders) can define a wine and vintage year just by smelling it in the glass, without even taking a sip. Pure arrogance and fake wine snobbery in the script.
That's unfortunately just the starting point, it gets worse in later episodes. A few examples:
The rare grape/wine in France (Gigon Lignage?) is completely made up. Ok, that could be script liberty. But I don't see the need to introduce fictional grapes and wines and mix them with real wines, there are more than enough interesting rare grapes and wine regions to choose from. The protagonists then claim that this is the only red grape in the World able to produce both white and red wines. Completely bogus. Any red grape can make white, rose, or red, depending on skin-juice contact (and the duration of said contact). A simple example from a famous wine region: Around two-thirds of the planted grapes in Champagne, France are red varieties (namely Meunier and Pinot Noir). But most champagne sparkling wines are white in color, not red.
The "truffle" smell Camille encounters just has to come from Cabernet (this grape variety really does exist), at least according to the script. Completely bogus again. The same odor can also be present in wines from Northern Italy, such as Barolo or red wines made from Sangiovese grapes (many additional red wines from other wine regions around the World may also display truffle-like flavors, these were just two examples).
The worst error is related to that same "truffle" smell. The male sommelier in the series claims that only two (exactly two!) wines in the world show this characteristic, even though thousands of different wines are made from Cabernet grapes or blends. Completely bogus for many reasons. The two wines (Chateau Cheval Blanc and Vega Sicilia Unico) come from different countries and are two completely different red wines. How even a beginner sommelier could claim that these two wines are "similar" is beyond me - especially since we talk about two world-famous label wines. One is from Bordeaux, France while the other one is coming from Spain. The first one is a classic BDX blend with lots of Merlot (but dominant in Cabernet Franc, not the more common higher proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes) while the latter one is predominantly made from Tempranillo grapes in Spain - and only contains a tiny portion of Cabernet Sauvignon (usually low single digits, depending on the vintage). So, let's compare two wines that don't even contain a lot of Cabernet Sauvignon (CS)? Makes no sense. In addition, the CS grape variety is more known for violets, licorice, black currant, tobacco and black cherries than "truffle" odors anyway.
In case "non-wine" people ask themselves: Why does this all matter? Let me make a car analogy. Imagine a car racing movie mixing up a white Porsche and a red Ferrari - throughout the entire film. With the film character saying: "I will go for a quick spin in the white Porsche!" while driving away in the red Ferrari instead. It is that level of bad, since these two wines are among the most famous red wines in the world (and both are very expensive, you can buy a high-end car for a few cases).
These were just the worst examples, there are unfortunately more. But I will stop here, the above should provide more than enough proof..
I truly don't understand how one of the biggest companies on the planet (Apple) couldn't hire a wine critic or sommelier to spot and correct these obvious errors while green-lighting a huge budget - especially since the original Japanese manga is nearly flawless with regards to oenology (accurate wine labels and regions, a lot of attention to detail - including correct vintage years).
In fact, I feel sorry for the manga authors because some viewers watching the series before reading the original manga may assume that the manga's wine facts are equally wonky or poorly researched. This is fortunately not the case.
I mainly wrote this review for wine lovers: No, you are not wrong. They didn't teach you bogus facts when you studied for your WSET diploma or similar wine exams. This series/script is wrong.
Disregard the fake "wine knowledge" platitudes and enjoy the rest of the drama, which is quite good. Good cinematography and beautiful settings in Japan, France and Italy; slow pacing, but never boring, thanks to the very original plot. No cheap thrills (such as physical violence or sex) are needed to keep the viewer interested, that's a refreshing departure from many current streaming hit series.
I rate the series 6/10 or even 7/10 thanks to its original plot and largely unknown actors that excel - while generously passing on all the factual wine errors listed above. Otherwise, I would have to rate it 4/10 or 5/10 only.
If you want to obtain real wine knowledge paired with entertainment: Read the original manga "Drops of God" (digitally available in English on Kindle in many countries, also available in print in French, published in Europe).
If you don't want to pick up a book or comic, but enjoy a movie with wine/oenology embedded into the story? Watch the classic movie "Sideways" (2004) that also features many wine tidbits and facts mixed into a very entertaining plot. The movie is so good in my opinion that also "non-wine" people will enjoy the drama. Wine geeks will just have a few extra laughs.
If you prefer a wine documentary instead, I highly recommend "Sour Grapes" (2016). Fascinating like a (true) crime novel.
