Quoc Dang Tran’s Drops of God, a show about an enologist and the complications surrounding his will, premiered its third episode today, and the tension is rising in the competition. In the previous episode, Camille was able to overcome the trauma she had associated with alcohol, which used to cause her nosebleeds, and now she was able to finally taste wine without bleeding. In the third episode, Camille and her father, Alexandre’s mentee, Issei, meet as the competition between the two begins to determine who will inherit Alexandre’s $148 million wine collection and his $7 million mansion. Here’s what happens in the episode:
Spoilers Ahead
The Celery Root Mystery
Camille is tired and exhausted from trying to connect the flavors she’d tasted in a wine and having gone around tasting as many wines as possible in Thomas’s room. She finally gives up and goes to bed while Thomas keeps listing all the aromas in his head, but the celery root is the odd one out that he can’t place. He then remembers that his father, Phillippe, would know the wine these flavors go in, and after a bit of back-and-forth with his son regarding the flavors, Phillippe draws out a magazine and recalls something important. Although celery root is typically found in white wines, he knew of a vintner called André Gigon, who’d created a red wine with the flavors of both red and white wines, and vice versa. This wine with two colors in one vintage was named Lignage, but Gigon went bankrupt in 1996 and had to sell off his bottles for mere francs, while now the bottles fetch close to 10,000 euros.
Thomas and Camille drive to Gigon’s vineyard, but they learn from Gigon’s son that they have no more bottles left because the company went out of business years ago. Camille returns to Tokyo after Thomas helps her into a cab, and there’s a definite sexual tension between them. In Tokyo, Luca asks his nephews Miyabi and Lorenzo to look after Camille, and as it turns out, Luca does have a vintage Lignage Domaine Gigon, but it’s not the year Camille needs. It’s not possible to open the bottle just for a taste, but an opportunity comes along when Mr. Matsubara and his client come to the restaurant and order the Lignage. Camille patiently waits as the two people discuss business and slowly empty the bottle and leave, leaving only a few drops in the bottle. She hurriedly samples the drops and realizes it’s not the wine she’d tasted.
Familial Pressures
Meanwhile, Issei is being forced by his family to quit the wine venture and return to his family’s diamond business, and he has no choice but to give in. He calls journalist Yurika Katase to inform her of his decision to back away from the competition with Camille. Katase, who’d arrived with hopes of getting details about the competition, is angered that Issei wasted her time and lambasts him, saying he might be backing out because he’s afraid. Moved by her words, Issei changes his mind and decides to stay in the competition, causing a rift within his family. When Issei doesn’t withdraw from the competition, his grandfather asks Honoka to persuade his grandson to return to the path, but she asks her husband, Hirokazu, to handle the matter. Issei questions Hirokazu’s relationship with Honoka and asks to be left alone. When Issei remained unbent on his decision, Honoka made a scene in the media and even insulted her husband, Hirokazu, who decided he’d had enough of this and walked out of the marriage.
Thomas’s Discovery
There are just a couple of days left to hand in the final answers, and Camille calls Thomas to let him know of her findings and adds that she misses him. Therefore, despite Juliette’s misgivings, Thomas arrives in Tokyo, and thanks to Luca’s generosity, Lorenzo, Miyabi, Thomas, and Camille go into Luca’s wine cellar. They explore various wines, but none of them match the taste that Camille has tasted, so Lorenzo calls for a break, and they head to a Japanese restaurant. When Thomas comes out to speak to Juliette, he notices the rust on the cycle’s ringer, and this strikes a chord in his brain. He immediately gathers the others to share his brainwave. Celery root is typical of white wines, and the only way red wines may have its flavor is if there are truffles in them because red wine containing truffles undergoes several years of aging to cause oxidation to give it the flavor of celery root. Therefore, recent wines can’t be of this flavor, and the vintage had to have been prepared before 2006. Lorenzo advises Camille to check for differences among the wines in the cellar to make up for lost time, and they get to work.
What’s The Result Of The Duel Between Camille And Issei?
On the day of the duel, Alexandre’s lawyer, François Talion, asks both competitors, Camille and Issei, to enter the testing room, but Issei is briefly distracted by a picture in Alexandre’s room, which suggests his mentor and his father might’ve been acquaintances or more. When the test began, Issei quickly noted down the answer while Camille began thinking deeply, and her thought process was unclouded and precise this time. Although she’d written the correct year initially, her self-doubt made her change the answer. Instead of Château Cheval Blanc 1999, the correct answer, she wrote 2000, which made her lose the first round. Issei had secured the first victory, and while returning home, the picture of his father kept him distracted.
Although Camille has overcome her initial mental trauma associated with alcohol and childhood, she’s not fully confident in her abilities. This made her doubt herself, which cost her the first round of the competition. Camille needs to buck up quickly and come back strong if she wishes to win the competition and her father’s will while she’s also dealing with her growing feelings for Thomas. Her childhood friend is also becoming attracted to her, and he might act on his feelings sometime soon, leading to an end to his relationship with Juliette. On the other hand, Issei has to figure out the relationship Hirokazu has with Alexandre and understand their connection soon, lest he can’t focus on the competition anymore. What becomes of this duel, and who comes out on top in the challenge for enophiles? We’ve got to stay tuned to find out.
