Ever read a comic book about wine? I hadn’t, until I found out this week that my inability to put those two concepts together was just a sign of advancing age and cultural ignorance. The Japanese manga series "The Drops of the Gods" has apparently been running for four years now, and has developed a cult following in Asia. My wake-up call came from the NY Times. View the slide show here.
The whole concept is pretty cool. The hero must compete with his brother to decipher clues left by their father in his will to finding the twelve best wines in the world. As the NYT puts it, the series “…follows Shizuku as he learns about wine, allowing the reader to do the same.” Reportedly it has a huge impact on wine sales, but anything that puts people at ease with wine has my vote.
More than that, the descriptors of wine are delightfully original. The authors are not professional wine writers, and deliberately avoid the usual comparisons with common scents and flavors. “Just like a classic rock concert!” says one brother after taking a sip of a 2001 Mont-Pérat. On a Burgundy - “Like walking in a quiet forest being followed by two butterflies,” exclaims the other brother.
That approach may be tough to translate into professional tasting notes, although I have thought of places rather than things when tasting wine. Albarino takes me straight to the beach, and Burgundy has taken us all deep into autumn forests. But there is no doubt that Western concepts of scent and flavor are much overworked in the wine trade and could use a dash of Asian sensibility. All those American berry pies and French crème brûlées. The newest member of Parker’s stable, Lisa Perotti –Brown MW, has just published a useful Asian Food Lexicon for Wine on Parker’s website.
It is a great start, and had me thinking of more Asian scents and flavors that I would add, like cherimoya in some Chardonnays, and tamarind in Rhones.
Got any of your own favorite Asian foods that work?
