Siblings Shin and Yuko Kibayashi, founders of popular wine manga comic The Drops of God, are to launch an online wine club in the US this October.
The Drops of God wine club will focus on New World wines, mainly from California
The online platform is a collaboration between the Kibayashis and Peter Chiang, owner of Kanpai Wines based at Meadowbrook Farm in Napa. The service will include an interactive wine game, wine recommendations for members and special offers at US hotels and restaurants.
“It’s no secret that a lot of what we’ve featured in the comic thus far has been focused on the Old World, but what really caught our attention was the modern, balanced, site-specific New World wines we’ve been tasting over the past few years.
Shin and Yuko Kibayashi are launching a online wine club
“These wines excite us and we’re committed to sharing them with our fans,” the Kibayashi’s said.
The ‘salon’ will encourage members to learn more about their palates and taste preferences through an unconventional approach to wine education.
“We want to engage the right side of the brain; the creative side that is attracted to the arts, for wine is an art and it is an art form that should be available to all, like music is,” Chiang said.
At the October launch of the club at The Bazaar in Beverly Hills, attendees will be able to play a Drops of Godversion of WineGame, which turns any bottle of wine into a multiple-choice blind tasting quiz, and enjoy dishes by chef José Andres.
Among the wines that will be available via The Drops of God wine club are Matthiasson, Massican, Noria, Kanpai, Marietta, Ashes & Diamonds and Scribe.
“We want to bring beautiful wines to the public. Accessibility and discovery are the foundation of our salon. In the manga series, many of the wines mentioned were hard-to-find benchmarks. With the Drops of God wine salon,we’ll be sharing wines that are approachable, accessible and delicious,” Chiang said.
As part of the launch, the Kibayashis will host a series of consumer focused wine and food pairing events in California.
The Drops of Godmange series, which includes 44 volumes and a spin-off TV series, has a fan base of over 300 million.
In the comic a pair of rival sommeliers compete in a wine identification competition based on riddles outlined in the will of a renowned wine critic.
At the height of its popularity, All Nippon Airlines redesigned its wine list to meet the demand for labels favoured by the comic’s protagonist.
For an in-depth interview with Shin and Yuko Kibayashi click here.
