Legendary Manga Artists Team Up With Winemaker to Launch Exclusive Wine Club

During the 17th and 18th century in Europe, prominent individuals (mostly women) would host private gatherings in their homes called “salons”. These gatherings were reserved for the elite who would gather together to debate and discuss topics surrounding literature, philosophy, and current events. Over time, salons became a key to the birth of new political ideas that would affect the course of world events.

To pay homage to these salons, Peter Chiang, a Napa Valley vintner, and Shin and Yuko Kibayashi, the renowned creators of the “Drops of God” manga, are debuting The Drops of God Wine Salon, an interactive online wine club, with two extraordinary wine-tasting events. Tickets are available now for Napa Valley and Beverly Hills.

 

Chiang, who was initially trained in the culinary arts, also has a distinguished background in business as the President of Bijou USA and VP of Bijou Japan. Solidifying his reputation as a hospitality entrepreneur, Chiang serves as the CEO of his family-owned Kanpai Wines. The Chiang family also owns Meadowbrook Farm based in Napa Valley.

“Drops of God” is the premier Japanese manga about wine created by sibling team Shin and Yuko Kibayashi. First published in 2004, the manga tells the story of Kanzaki Shizuku who, knowing nothing of wine, must learn to identify and describe 13 wines to inherit his late wine-critic father’s legacy before his Father’s protegé. All the wines featured in the manga are all real. The first “Drops of God” story arc ran for 44 volumes and ended in 2014.

Together, Chiang and the Kibayashis have partnered to create The Drops of God Wine Salon, where wine enthusiasts will enjoy 33 different wines from 10 producers that will all be hand-selected by the Kibayashis as well as a delicious selection of food from world-renowned chefs Thomas Keller and José Andrés.

The event will also mark the debut of The Drops of God Wine Salon version of the WineGame app (available for iOS and Android), an interactive online and educational wine-tasting experience that turns any bottle of wine into a multiple-choice blind tasting game.

“Shin and Yuko along with our family wanted to create an online wine salon supplemented with real-world physical events where people could openly and freely discuss their own thoughts, emotions, stories, and memories relating to wine whether it be specific wines, wine in general, or food and wine pairings. We named it a Wine Salon because we wanted to go beyond the traditional notion of what a wine club is to bring to life the wine-drinking culture that the authors created in the fictional Universe of The Drops of God,” Chiang says.

Guests will have the opportunity to meet the Kibiyashis as well as Chiang and his partner and wife, Azumi Kubo, at the events.

NextShark is proud to co-host these events with the Chiang family and the Kibiyashis to celebrate the launch of The Drops of God Wine Salon.