Nika Jeiranashvili’s Blog

[Kolagis Marani]

A Global Phenomenon

A single, label-less bottle—enigmatic, untraceable—has set millions on a quest across continents. Drops of God, the Apple TV+ series adapted from the beloved Japanese manga, is more than drama; it is revelation. Multilingual and luminous in its portrayal of wine’s emotional core, it claimed an International Emmy and holds critical acclaim that rivals the finest vintages. Viewers in France, Japan, the United States, and beyond have been drawn into a story where wine is not mere drink but memory, rivalry, and truth itself.

For Georgia, the series’ embrace is profound. It places our ancient craft at the heart of a modern narrative, reminding the world that wine began here—eight millennia ago, in clay vessels buried in earth—and that its purest form endures.

Spoiler Alert: This blog discusses key plot points from Seasons 1 and 2, including the mystery wine’s origins. If you haven’t watched yet, you may wish to pause here.

What is Drops of God?

At its center lies inheritance laced with mystery. Legendary critic Alexandre Léger dies, bequeathing his $150-million cellar—87,000 bottles of liquid history—to the victor of an impossible contest. His estranged daughter Camille and his protégé Issei—later revealed as his son, born of a Japanese former student—must identify ever-more elusive wines to claim the prize.

Their rivalry spans France, Japan, Italy, and beyond, unearthing family wounds and buried secrets. Camille, who once fled the world of wine, discovers a synesthetic gift: she tastes in colors, hears in symphonies, sees in visions. Issei, precise and disciplined, embodies the classical sommelier’s rigor. Together they learn that great wine transcends labels and scores—it is connection, it is memory, it is the stubborn pulse of the land.

The series’ lush cinematography and quiet intensity have made it a cultural event. Millions watch not only for suspense but for the journey: wine as a bridge between past and present, between people and place.

Season 1: Georgia’s Quiet Entrance

Georgia appears briefly but memorably in Season 1. In a pivotal pairing scene, Camille matches food with amber wine from Ramaz Nikoladze—a Tsitska and Tsolikouri blend, fermented in qvevri with centuries-old tradition. For the Natural Wine Association, this moment carried special significance: Ramaz Nikoladze, one of our founding members, saw his wine placed within the global canon, demonstrating that Georgia’s ancient methods resonate powerfully in today’s world of excellence.

Season 2: Georgia at the Center

Season 2 transforms the glance into a gaze. Three years after their first contest, Camille and Issei reunite at the Chassangre Estate—where Camille now lives and works with her fiancé, winemaker Thomas Chassangre—for their shared 30th birthdays.

Alexandre’s final gift arrives: a bottle without label or provenance, accompanied by a letter that elevates the mystery into a mission. Quoting Pliny the Elder’s “In vino veritas”—in wine, there is truth—he calls the bottle “perfection itself, the ambrosia of the gods, the light in the dark.” He confesses that his greatest failure was never discovering its origin, and charges his heirs to succeed where he could not: “If you find this wine, it will mean that you are better than me—the chosen one. I’m counting on you.”

The trail leads to Georgia, the acknowledged cradle of wine. Here, amid sunlit hills and vines that have thrived in stone-rich soils since the dawn of viticulture, they encounter qvevri traditions, indigenous grapes, and sacred practices that have survived empires. The mystery unfolds not through elite cellars or chemical precision but through living ecosystems—soil, sky, and human hands working in harmony.

The Forbidden Grapes: Echoes of Survival

Season 2 introduces the motif of the “forbidden grape”—varieties once suppressed not for danger but for economic threat. Early episodes trace Herbemont, a direct hybrid banned in the West under claims of instability, but in truth feared for its natural resistance that challenged the chemical industry.

This theme reaches its culmination in Georgia’s Kartli region, where Camille and Issei accidentally join a supra—the traditional Georgian feast—that frames their encounter with Tamar Abashidze and her family. The supra, led by a toastmaster, embodies the spirit of Georgian hospitality and community.

Tamar presides over a small vineyard that mostly supplies a local monastery, but her tiny enterprise is endangered by an inheritance dispute with her brother Davit, a businessman intent on erasing the family legacy to settle old childhood scores. Their feud becomes a mirror for Camille and Issei’s own rivalry, as the series pauses to explore how family wounds shape the fate of wine.

Welcomed into Tamar’s family’s marani—an old wine cellar with numerous qvevris buried in the ground—Camille and Issei learn that the mystery wine was crafted by Tamar’s father and uncle. Tamar explains that her father, in his youth, traveled west and encountered the heirs of Rudolf Steiner, the father of biodynamics—a philosophy that resonates deeply with Camille’s own Chassangre estate, a beacon of biodynamic practice in France. This encounter inspired him to embrace Herbemont’s hardy spirit, blending it with qvevri’s ancient rhythm for a wine that honors the land’s cosmic pulse.

The marani itself carries sacred meaning: a long underground passageway connects it to a monastery, where monks come to take wine for the liturgy. Tamar reflects, “This wine does not belong to us—not to my brother, not to me. It belongs to God. That’s what makes its beauty.”

She emphasizes that the mineral substance of the soil is the key to creating truly great wine. When Camille asks why her father chose Herbemont, Tamar replies: “It’s a very resistant direct hybrid. He used to say: ‘There are no bad grape varieties, only bad winemakers.’”

The revelation is profound: the mystery wine, born of Herbemont and nurtured in qvevri, embodies resilience, humility, and sacred purpose. Camille and Issei raise their glasses “to life, to love”—and drink the wine that Alexandre could never place.

The True Drops of God

Season 1 redefined the titular “Drops of God” as rain itself—nature’s gift, the source of all wine. Season 2 deepens the revelation. The mystery bottle, traced to Georgia’s ancient methods, is less about a single vintage than about reverence: for terroir, for heritage, for the living processes that give wine soul.

Camille and Issei surpass their father not by possessing a trophy but by choosing to protect what lies behind it. The Georgian wine they discover embodies resilience—not as possession, but as stewardship. It reminds us that the finest wines are born from ecosystems that breathe, adapt, and endure across generations.

Natural Wine as the Enduring Legacy

The “forbidden” label in Drops of God ultimately stands for biodynamic and natural winemaking: methods that prioritize ecological balance, biodiversity, and cultural continuity over industrial control. For the Natural Wine Association, this is affirmation. Our qvevri-fermented wines, our indigenous grapes, our hands-off approach—these are not relics of the past, but the future of wine.

This vision is echoed in a scene where Camille, dining in Georgia, is introduced to Giorgi Aladashvili’s biodynamic wines—first his Saperavi, then a Kisi amber renowned for maceration—which captivates her and affirms how Georgia’s natural traditions continue to astonish the world.

The series validates what Georgian winemakers have practiced for millennia: wine as a living dialogue between land and people. By setting its deepest lessons here, Drops of God invites the world to taste not just history, but possibility.

Final Reflection

Drops of God reveals that the greatest wines are not trophies of prestige but testaments to continuity—to soil that remembers, vines that resist, traditions that refuse erasure. Georgia’s role in the story is no coincidence; it is the homecoming. As millions discover our amber pours and qvevri methods through this global lens, they encounter wine reborn: authentic, untamed, eternal.

For the natural wine producers of Georgia, the Natural Wine Association of Georgia, this is more than recognition. It is celebration. Our heritage is on screen, alive and resonant. And in every glass raised worldwide, the true drops of God continue to fall.