It is easy to imagine the elevator pitch the producers, including France Televisions and Hulu Japan, made to Apple TV+ for the first series of Drops of God.
“It’s like The Queen’s Gambit, but with wine instead of chess, more beautiful settings, lots of improbably good-looking actors, family drama, jeopardy and native-language content that’s sure to attract French and Japanese viewers. Oh, and there’s funding from the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, and a beautiful estate* in Châteauneuf du Pape we can use as a location.”
Drops of God was undeniably a hit when it aired in 2023, featuring among the streamer’s top 10 shows, scoring a rare 100% rating from Rotten Tomatoes’ critics and 93% from viewers on its Popcornmeter. Variety magazine’s Alison Herman, probably spoke for many, writing “You don’t need to be a wine enthusiast — I’m not! — to take vicarious pleasure in expertise, heritage and pure, sensual pleasure.”
A second series was commissioned which hit the screens earlier this year. I can heartily recommend it, especially for some of the scenes in Georgia. (But I admit to some bias here).
Wine geeks may be slightly disappointed to learn that the wine-themed show was not quite as successful as the one focused on chess, but that would have been a very tough hurdle to clear. In 2020, The Queen's Gambit was Netflix’s most-watched scripted ‘limited series’ with 62m households viewing it in the first 28 days. Sales of chess sets shot up by 1,000% (admittedly from a presumably low base) and online chess platforms enjoyed a boom.
