Buongiorno, everyone!
I'm Honma Chosuke! I've just transferred here from the imported foods division!
Piacere!
Oh, welcome, Honma-kun.
Hi there. I'm Kanzaki from the first sales division.
Oh, so you're the one!
Buongiorno, Signor Kanzaki!
And who might this signorina be?
I'm Shinohara Miyabi, a consultant.
What a bella signorina you are!
Wh-What are you doing?
Oh? What might this be?
We're looking for things that might be good to import.
We don't know a lot about wine just yet.
Shinohara-san found these for us.
Let me see.
Wonderful!
Oh, fantastico!
Um, Honma-san, what are you doing?
Dumping these others out.
They're not worth drinking.
Um, are they really that bad?
Don't you worry, signorina.
Kanzaki-kun, I'm sure you put her up to this.
I know about your father.
Anyway, signorina!
The number 16 and number 20 vino you selected have made me very happy!
What's his problem?
I'm gonna pop him right in the face!
Let's not get violent.
Shizuku-san! Look at his scorecard!
He gave a goose egg to everything but numbers 16 and 20?
Not that!
This here shows the country of origin for the particular maker and vintage.
France
Italy
The two he picked out were Italian wines...
Is it possible he could tell the difference just by the scent?
If that's really the case,
I'll bet he's had more wines from around the globe than we can even imagine!
Oh, my beautiful Redi-chan!
Wherefore art thou Redi-chan?
And Trinoro-chan!
What makes you smile so bright?
But Paleo-chan, it's your passion I want tonight!
You understand, don't you, ladies?
Please understand, Redi-chan, Trinoro-chan!
This damsel was born in the year 2000. She gets...
Honma Notes
Honma Points
This is the ideal temperature for the ladies, but it's a little chilly for me.
AC
Dehumidifier
Auto
Heat
Temp Control
Time for bed.
Buona notte! Good night, my lovers!
And so...
In my Taiyo Beer wine division, we'll exclusively deal in Italian wines!
Dismissed!
DUMBSTRUCK
Wait... Hang on a second, Honma-san!
Got a problem?
This is our first venture selling wine. It's insane to leave out France.
You think wine is predominantly French?
It is, right?
Stronzo!
STRONZOOOOOOOO!!
Fool!
Wine is primarily an Italian thing!
Wine culture got its start in Italy during the Roman Empire.
Theirs is much older than France's!
History doesn't make it "primarily" Italian!
You want me to kick your ass?!
Just try it!
Stop it, both of you!
Violence is wrong, okay?
That's enough!
You're much too old for this.
If you're arguing about wine, why not settle this with wine?
I see.
Then how about this?
We'll have a tasting competition, Italy versus France.
He thinks Italy's superior. He won't score them fairly.
You like the French stuff,
so you'd never understand the true depth of Italian wine.
Okay, so why don't we have the rest of the office do the tasting?
We can host it in the lobby at the end of the workday,
and they can vote on which they like.
Well? That's fair, isn't it?
I agree.
Let's make it a best of three competition
and stick to price points an ordinary consumer could afford.
Let's say in the ranges of one, two, and three thousand yen.
Good idea.
If we're going to import, those are the safe price points to hit.
Sounds perfect.
The battle's as good as won.
I'll give you a week.
Scour the ground and hunt all you want!
You'll see just how hopeless this is.
He gave me a week, but I don't know where to start.
Damn it...
This crap!
What are you doing?!
Ma Famille was famous around here for its southern French cuisine.
We were always booked.
So what happened?
It was around this time last year...
A customer asked for the full course,
with wine by the glass. White to start.
A month later...
This is bad!
Look at this article!
His review was horrible.
Wine Critic Tomine Issei Visits a French Restaurant
"The food is good, but the wine selection is terrible."
"Such a mismatch can only mean the owner fundamentally
misunderstands French cooking."
Three days from now, on Monday...
He's got another reservation.
I was going to get rid of all the wine in the place beforehand
and tell him we're sold out.
Would you let me help you instead?
If this man is coming back to your restaurant,
then I'll find him a wine he can't possibly complain about!
I didn't introduce myself.
Here's my business card.
Taiyo Beer's wine division?
I'm actually searching for delicious French wines myself.
I'm still learning and don't know a lot about winemaking,
but my palate and nose are pretty good, I think.
In that case...
Well, I don't have any other ideas.
I can't drink a drop of alcohol, you see.
My wife handled all the wine before she passed away.
Y-You really went all out.
Wine Division Competition "Italy vs. France" Tasting
The wine division is new.
This is our chance to showcase ourselves to everyone.
It's finally time, Shizuku-san.
Yeah.
I did my best.
We won't lose!
It's quitting time.
Okay, let's begin!
Fine by me!
First, in the 1,000-yen range!
We're with the wine division.
We'd love it if you joined our taste test.
Italy versus France, eh?
I want some!
Sara-chan!
Look! That's Sara the model!
The one on the poster?
Can I have another?
Now have a sip of the wine you chose.
Oh no...
Finally caught on, have you?
That wine tastes best half an hour after it's been opened.
French wine requires drinkers to be knowledgeable.
But Italian wine is delicious straight out of the bottle!
It'd never lose in a tasting!
Damn it... Miyabi-chan!
A decanter!
Okay!
A little bit of decanting won't make this stiff wine loosen up.
Incredible...
He's opening more and more bottles!
There's no telling what will happen now.
No. 1
No. 1 Italy
No. 2 France
The Italian wine won by a hair!
He got us.
But what about the next one?
A Domaine Lecheneaut Marsanny Les Sampagny!
What? So you do know French wine!
In our last taste test, he could differentiate by smell alone.
Honma-san, you probably know lots about French wine, don't you?
Why do you have it out for it so bad?
No reason.
I just don't like it.
Whatever. If we win, we'll have French wine at the afterparty.
You'll have to drink a boatload of it!
Impossible!
I won't lose!
Next up is the 2,000-yen round!
The 2,000-yen showdown started the same way the 1,000-yen showdown did.
But in the end...
No. 1 Italy
No. 2 France
This time, France wins by a hair.
Yay!
Celebrate while you can.
Behold Honma Chosuke's selection for the 3,000-yen battle!
This beautiful, dazzling, and fragrant bottle of wine!
Three-star Italian wine?
No French wine could beat this!
I'm going to believe in my senses.
So, Honma-san, since you refuse to drink French wine just because it's French,
I want you to close your eyes and taste this with your own senses.
And you too...
Taste this.
I will.
It's got a burning passion
but a lightness that keeps it from tiring your tongue.
A wine you'd want to chase forever.
Honma-san, I like this wine.
You fool. Who wouldn't?
Aren't you...
That's...
Tomine Issei!
Congratulations on your newly established wine division.
I apologize for my tardiness in saying so.
Tomine, what are you doing here?
I was nearby,
Shizuku-san is doing something interesting at his company
and I heard you were doing something interesting.
It's been a while, indeed.
Tomine-san, would you like a glass?
Thank you.
I see.
This truly is interesting.
The first wine, the French one...
Right now, it has more richness and individuality,
but the Italian wine must have tasted much better
on the tongue when it was first opened.
I'm sure the second was much the same.
But in the end, it's likely the French wine won out.
Now, for the finale of 3,000-yen bottles,
the Italian wine is likely to win with ease.
I'm certain of it.
This wonderful vino is Roggio del Filare!
That's exactly right.
It would be no mean feat to find a French wine in the 3,000-yen range
to surpass that.
A masked ball...
A masquerade!
I've finished the tallying.
No. 1 Italy
No. 2 France
A tie?
Oh no...
It's okay.
We put our hearts into selecting these wines.
Why don't you stop this, Dad?
Oh, Suzuka.
This is Kanzaki-san and Shinohara-san from Taiyo Beer's wine division.
This is my daughter...
You still haven't learned?
You won't even give the wines Mom bought a chance.
Will you keep serving fancy wine that guy sold you
even though it doesn't match the food at all?
E-Enough!
Hold it!
Where is this wine your wife bought?
When I was born, my mom and dad
left the famous restaurant where they'd worked and founded this one.
I see.
The "Famille" name was a celebration of a husband and wife becoming a family.
I've been working part-time at a wine bar so I could be a sommelier like my mother.
But the "restaurant for our family" that my mom dreamed of is gone.
I've got enough saved up, so I'll be leaving.
You don't want to see how it goes?
Tomine-san, who wrote that article, has a reservation Monday night.
Your dad will make the main dish
and serve the last wine your mother picked out to go with it.
I am Watanuki, the owner and chef.
Thank you for coming today.
It was a pleasant dinner.
The pairing of the food and wine contained all the fine gradients of French cuisine,
from the first bite to the last sip.
And the "mariage" of food and drink, just as a marriage would imply,
is like the best couples in that they both make each other better.
Watanuki-san, I wrote a terrible review of your restaurant in a magazine last year.
I'd like to apologize.
I didn't know enough about wine at the time.
But now my daughter is studying it.
That will never happen again.
The name of this restaurant, "Famille,"
came from the idea of us as a family, offering warm hospitality to our guests.
Now I'd like to start over, with my daughter,
and make this restaurant truly live up to its name.
Dad...
Co-workers are like family, right?
It's sad when they can't understand one another.
Shizuku-san...
Yeah, you're right.
The match is decided.
Here's my vote.
Honma-san...
No. 2 France
You forced my hand with that last wine.
Wouldn't you say?
I would indeed.
You selected a truly wonderful Italian wine.
Like the cooking and land of Italy, it was rich and friendly. Cheerful, too.
But the chosen French wines told a story.
A Rhône wine that opens with a spicy attack,
followed a modern and stylish Burgundy wine.
Lastly, a traditional Bordeaux that contains both the elements
of yin and yang, allowing a wonderful change of pace.
You can drink them all because they're all different.
And the last one makes your heart tremble, like a main course.
This battle was won not through the wines themselves, but their presentation.
Shizuku-kun, victory is yours.
Nah, to tell the truth, I don't care about this showdown anymore.
I was genuinely shocked by your Italian wines.
Especially that last one. I want to thank you for showing it to me.
Flattery will get you nowhere.
In fact, Italian wine is far more complex than this!
Let's go drink, junior!
I've been drinking every day lately!
Fool! That's our job, right?
Miyabi-chan, hurry!
Wh-What about the cleanup?
We'll do it tomorrow!
Wait!
Sheesh...
All you have to do to get the wines is hand them the list.
Yes, but the CEO wanted a personal meeting.
Dad...
What are you thinking?
Taiyo Beer Wine Division Documents
The wine division is brand new.
It can't do top-rate work.