Jean-Michel Cazes of Chateau Lynch Bages should expect his wines to fly off the shelves as he takes a starring role in the latest issue of the most influential wine comic in Asia.
The renowned Pauillac producer stars in Drops of the Gods, the Japanese manga which appears weekly and has millions of readers in Japan, Korea, China and Taiwan.
The story follows the hero, Shizuku Kanzaki, as he attempts to track down 12 mythical wines that his father – a famous wine critic – stipulated in his will must be found as a condition for inheriting his US$18m wine cellar.
Manga creators Yoko and Shin Kibayashi – who made number 50 in the most recent Decanter Power List – met Cazes in September when they visited the Medoc to be initiated into the Commanderie de Bontemps wine brotherhood.
The 1983 Chateau Lynch Bages appeared in an earlier issue, and now the owner himself has now been transformed into a character, as an old friend of Shizuku’s father.
The events are set during the Medoc Marathon – which Shin completed this year – and feature Cazes pouring a glass of Ormes de Pez 2003 for Shizuku, who describes the wine as a feeling like a family get-together, with ‘nice burning flames, noise of crackling logs’.
If past precedent is anything to go by, the mention could prove very useful for this Saint Estephe property.
Past wines featured have seen their sales in Asia rise exponentially – according to Manga’s French publishers Glenat, wine sales in Japan jumped 130% the first year Drops of the Gods appeared.
Individual producers report their wines selling out overnight after being mentioned in the story.
Jane Anson meets the creators of Drops of the Gods in the latest issue of Decanter magazine – OUT NOW
New video: How to Analyse Colour, with Steven Spurrier
Written by Jane Anson in Bordeaux
