Kanzaki...?
Very well.
Guillemard will be here after nine.
If you can pull it off, I'll forget this whole thing.
Really, sir?
For you, perhaps it's not impossible.
Henri Jayer...
Let's sample the wine that's left.
R-Right!
Wow...
Yeah, it's on a whole different level than any of the wines we had yesterday.
Let's go looking for this.
We're in Ginza. There are bound to be loads of wine shops.
Wh-What are you talking about?
You heard him say there are only 700 bottles in the whole world, right?
No, I mean let's look for something with the taste and aroma
of what we just experienced.
Something to replace that smashed bottle of Henri Jayer's Cros-Parantoux!
I get it...
With your skill, we might be able to!
Let's go. We've only got three hours.
We'll track down the fragrance of that god!
I see.
So you bought every bottle you could find that shares your god's DNA, huh?
They all have something in common with that wine,
but something's different on a fundamental level.
I was sure that wines all stemming from the same maker would taste similar.
Which do you think is the closest to your god, Shizuku-kun?
This one, I'd say.
I see. In that case...
I'll do you a huge favor and open this baby for free.
A Les Beaumonts? Are you sure?!
Is it expensive?
It's an Emmanuel Rouget!
It was made by Jayer's nephew!
Miyabi-chan's spent quite a lot here.
Consider this a little thank-you.
Take a sip.
I wonder who she is.
Wait! Please wait!
Don't run away! Turn around!
Excuse me, sir.
We got a call from Guillemard-sama.
She'll be here in an hour, she says.
Very good. I just need to prepare a wine.
But you said earlier that nothing could replace that Jayer.
Nothing can, but I have any number of wines my guest will enjoy.
So long as I'm willing to pay for them.
No luck. She got away from me again.
Again?
It was the same with the other wines. The second I think I see her, she's gone.
Maybe we're wasting our time.
We'll never find a replacement for such a godly wine.
No, we still have an hour left.
If we don't give up, it's not too late.
Besides, I want to see for myself...
Shizuku-san?
If this is that important to you, I'll introduce you to someone special.
Someone special?
Yes. He's a famously difficult man,
but he knows more about wine than anyone in Ginza.
Indeed, I am Robert Doi.
Sorry to bother you like this.
Um, here's my card.
How long have you been drinking wine?
Me? Uh, since yesterday.
Robert-san?!
I'm just about to enjoy my wine!
If I don't drink it now, I'll never recapture this flavor and aroma!
Now get lost!
Please hear us out!
Robert-san!
I'm begging you!
You've already been drinking some good wine!
A Richebourg! And a Les Beaumonts!
A Richebourg and a Les Beaumonts!
H-How could you tell?!
Fascinating! How fascinating!
Sorry, sorry.
Now, miss, you broke a bottle of Jayer's '99 Cros-Parantoux, yes?
I-I did.
Here.
It's around here.
Get digging!
Right!
What? Don't tell me...
Of course!
Temperature is relatively constant underground, and the humidity is perfect!
It's a natural wine cellar!
Here. This is the bottle you want.
Bonsoir, Madame Guillemard.
Bonsoir, Monsieur Mishima.
No, let's speak in Japanese...
Soichiro.
Just incredible.
That kid was able to identify wines just by the scent lingering in the bottles.
And he says he only started drinking yesterday?
Yutaka, your grapes have ripened.
I can't wait to see what kind of wine they become.
A '90 Salon?
Wonderful.
Here you are.
Hey, this caviar is too salty.
It'll ruin the complex fragrance of the Salon.
Get something else at once!
Begging your pardon!
No, it can stay.
Would you bring out the wine I sent?
O-Of course...
Excuse me.
Soichiro, do you remember what today is?
Part-timer! Wrap that up and come help over here!
S-Sir!
"Henry Jeya"?
"Henri Jayer."
This is delicious! I've never had candy like it!
Is there no wine in France that tastes of cotton candy?
This fluffy texture and sweetness...
A Sauternes dessert wine, maybe?
I see. A Sauternes dessert wine.
Also...
That year I spent in Japan was the one jewel in my life.
That's silly.
You chose a life surrounded by jewels.
You brought that wine to tell me so fifteen years ago today.
Wh-What?
This wine is incredible...
I had it sent from home since you wanted to try it.
I was shocked to learn you were the daughter of a former count
and a famous wine seller.
Soichiro, that's...
What surprised me more, though,
was that you, Anne, had a fiancé.
I'm sorry, but that brought back a lot of memories.
Can we swap this for the '85 Romanée-Conti I prepared?
It goes for 2 million yen at auction.
I hope you'll try some.
Drink this wine.
Is that it?
I get it now.
The meaning of the maiden in the strawberry fields!
This is a '99, just like the broken bottle.
Wh-What is this place?
I know... I was here that night fifteen years ago.
Wait!
Turn around!
Please!
Anne!
I finally understand
what you really wanted to tell me fifteen years back...
A long aftertaste that seems to linger for eternity...
How Anne-san felt fifteen years ago.
"I want to be with you forever."
Let us drink, Soichiro...
once more.
Sommelier.
Oh, yes?
Pour a glass for the monsieur there as well.
And for yourself, if you'd like.
Whoo, this is delicious!
This wine truly is exquisite.
I'm not sure what's happened, but it couldn't have been easy to find.
I'm sorry, Anne.
My staff tragically broke the bottle you had sent over.
But how did you know this wasn't the same one?
It should be identical.
I'd like to know too.
How can there be such a wine?
You were able to find this and you don't know?
Yes. I asked a certain someone...
If his guest truly understands wine,
then they'll be forced to accept this when they drink it.
I had a sip when it was decanted.
And strangely, it felt 99 percent like Jayer's Cros-Parantoux.
Anne-san, why does this wine taste like Jayer's?
E-Emmanuel Rouget?!
He was Jayer's nephew, and it's said he learned his craft from his uncle...
But this is clearly not a Jayer.
When I drank that Les Beaumonts,
I felt that Rouget's wine had a wonderful aroma but couldn't take a god's place.
Have you heard this rumor?
Some of Emmanuel Rouget's '99 wines, or at least this Cros-Parantoux,
were still made by Henri Jayer after Rouget fell ill.
It's only a rumor, but...
This wine was made by the god named Jayer.
Or perhaps it's just a trick of the true god
that lives in the sky, in the land, and in people's hearts.
I like this wine.
It's full-bodied but has a delicateness to it.
Whoever the god that made it,
they must have loved wine
and enjoyed making it as if spending time with their own child.
I had a wonderful evening. Thank you.
How long are you in Japan?
Until tomorrow night.
I see.
Good night, Soichiro.
Good night.
Mishima-san!
Oh, you were a great help today. Thank you.
Will you please go spend time with Anne-san?
At least for while she's in Japan.
What do you mean?
I wasn't supposed to tell you, but...
Anne-san?
Are you not feeling well?
I even had some of that wonderful dessert wine...
I think I'm a little drunk.
You're lying.
That dessert wine was sour.
Someone who was able to identify the wine we brought from just a single sip
couldn't possibly fail to notice the faint scent of a moldy cork.
I see.
It was bouchonné, was it?
Bouchonné...
That's when a cork spoils the wine, right?
Mishima-san and the others drank it like normal,
but surely you would have noticed.
It's a brain tumor.
Sometimes she loses her senses of taste or smell.
It's not malignant,
but it's big enough to require surgery.
And there's a chance she'll lose her ability to sense delicate things.
She may no longer be able to enjoy wine with you.
I could tell that something was up when she came all the way from France.
All I can do is feign ignorance until the last moment.
No...
She also told me that the marriage her family arranged never made her happy.
For the fourteen years before she divorced,
she treasured nothing more than that year she spent with you.
It was fifteen years ago...
She was telling you how she feels!
Are you okay with just letting her go?!
Kanzaki-kun, you're a strange man.
It seems like you've been blessed by wine itself,
and not just because you're Kanzaki Yutaka's son.
You have my thanks.
Hurry and arrange a taxi.
Okay!
The infamously hardheaded businessman Soichiro Mishima said that, huh?
It was so romantic!
Now I want to drink the wine my father left to say goodbye.
I feel like I'll understand what that strange sensation was.
Shizuku...
Hey, Miyabi-chan.
I'd like to ask a favor... No, two favors.
Now then, let us begin.
Who's the girl?
Has she anything to do with this competition?
Shizuku-kun asked that she be allowed to attend.
No different than you.
I'm your patron, Issei-san, and...
By the way, how do you intend to determine the winner?
You said whoever could describe it best would be the victor,
but as far as I know,
none of Kanzaki-sensei's books ever described this wine.
Do not be concerned.
Yutaka-sensei's friend and the wine-taster he trusted most
will be attending this competition.
Taster?
I'm just an old drunk.
Right, Issei?
Robert-sensei!
It's been three years, huh?
You've done well for yourself, I see.
Y-Y-You knew my dad?
Well, let's get to it.
I want to try this wine myself.
Of course.
Tell me. What is this wine?
This wine is Millet's The Angelus.
A silent prayer for the land's blessing
that best expresses the terroir, the nature of the soil
where this wine's grapes were grown.
Incredible! I can see the true nature of this wine!
Being good at descriptions is important for a sommelier or wine critic.
It's what makes Issei-san and Yutaka Kanzaki so incredible.
Shizuku, what did you see?
The grape fields of Bordeaux.
The last place I ever held my mother.
I'd forgotten for so long...
until I had this wine just now.
To me, this wine symbolizes my final goodbye with my mother.
Does it have such a sad taste?
This is an '82 Château Mouton Rothschild.
What year did your mother die?
It was 1982.
You've spent the last few days studying wine in your own way, right?
But your personal emotions have nothing to do with a tasting.
Right, Robert-sensei?
You're correct, Issei.
Your description perfectly matches the true nature of this wine.
I feel like drinking an '82 Mouton.
Which means the winner is clear.
The winner of this match is Tomine Issei.
Any objections?
No.
I only wanted to find out what it was the aroma of this wine revealed to me.
However...
I'm not letting you have my father's wine.
Shizuku-san!
Kiryu-san, may I have this bottle?
I want to spend my evening with it.
Feel free to take it.
I'll be the one to find the Drops of God and the Twelve Apostles.
Let's go!
Wait up!
I can't wait to drink it!
You're not supposed to shake it!
Come on, hurry!
Be careful!