The Drops of God Episode 1: Episode 1

A young Shizuku Kanzaki moves with an unnatural precision in his father’s cellar, already a master of a craft he has not yet chosen. His father, Yutaka, speaks of wine as the earth’s blood, imbuing the drink with a spiritual weight. Years later, an adult Shizuku works for a beer company, trying to escape this very legacy. He dismisses wine as "rotten grape juice" when his boss tries to move him into the wine division, showing his deep-seated resentment. His resistance is palpable, a wall built against a childhood he clearly found suffocating.

In an upscale restaurant, Shizuku observes a trainee sommelier, Miyabi Shinohara, struggling with a difficult customer. The man insists his expensive Richebourg is undrinkable, but Shizuku intervenes, knowing the wine simply needs to breathe. He executes a flawless 'long pour,' transforming the wine and baffling the customer. This moment showcases Shizuku’s intuitive skill, an innate talent he does not yet fully acknowledge.

News breaks across the city: Yutaka Kanzaki, the renowned wine critic, has died. The public is stunned by the loss of this titan of taste. Back at his father’s imposing estate, Shizuku faces the loyal butler Yoshida and the stern lawyer Kiryu. In a complex act of defiance and grief, Shizuku pours a glass of his father’s wine down the sink, the empty glass a stark symbol of his unresolved feelings.

Kiryu introduces Shizuku to Issei Tomine, a world-class wine critic adopted by Yutaka mere days before his death. Kiryu reveals the will’s terms: a competition to identify "The Twelve Apostles" of wine for an inheritance worth billions. Issei, arrogant and composed, immediately belittles Shizuku’s ignorance. Shizuku is furious, feeling replaced, and this unexpected rivalry ignites.

To settle who resides in the mansion, Yoshida arranges a blind tasting. Issei approaches the wine with clinical precision, correctly identifying a 1959 Richebourg with ease. Shizuku, however, refuses to participate, his resentment still too strong to engage. He deliberately fails the test, choosing to remain outside his father’s world even when it means losing a tactical advantage.

Miyabi, intrigued by Shizuku’s earlier display, tests his senses with an aroma kit. To his own surprise, Shizuku identifies complex scents like musk and truffle with perfect accuracy. He begins to understand that his father's childhood 'games' were, in fact, meticulous sensory training. Yet, when he finally tries the Richebourg Issei identified, his poetic descriptions of "cassis jam" and "sun-drenched garden" are met with Issei’s dismissive, textbook analysis. In frustration, Shizuku shatters the glass, still unable to bridge his raw talent with the academic world of wine.

Issei gives a sophisticated lecture on Bordeaux versus Burgundy, showcasing his formidable, academic mastery of wine. Meanwhile, a discouraged Shizuku is taken by Miyabi to a casual wine bar. There, a glass of Chateau Mont-Perat ignites a vivid, almost synesthetic experience within him, resembling a Queen concert. This visceral, joyful connection to wine finally provides Shizuku with the motivation to engage, moving beyond his father's shadow and into his own passionate discovery.

Issei, elsewhere, articulates a dark, operatic description of a rare Italian wine, emphasizing his intense and almost obsessive dedication. This cold precision contrasts sharply with the chaos that soon engulfs Shizuku and Miyabi. In the restaurant cellar, Miyabi accidentally shatters an incredibly rare bottle of Henri Jayer wine. The manager, furious, immediately fires Miyabi, leaving her trembling in despair. The spilled wine looks like blood, a stark symbol of the crisis.

With Miyabi’s career in ruins, Shizuku steps forward, accepting responsibility for the broken bottle. He makes a bold, public declaration to the demanding customer, Mr. Mishima. Shizuku promises to find a substitute wine "even better" than the irreplaceable Henri Jayer. This moment marks his full commitment to using his unique talents, not just for himself, but to protect others.