At a culinary Manga panel during New York City Comic Con, panelists discussed the wine-centered comic, Drops of God. The storyline centers around wine culture, including everything from vintage to mannerisms. All the wines featured are real.
The popular Manga series propelled the Japanese sales of one particular bottle, the Bordeaux region’s Château le Puy. The owner Jean-Pierre Amoreau was surprised and delighted from the big bump in business. Then, he decided to take the wine off the market.
The Guardian reports on Amoreau’s decision: “We immediately withdrew this vintage from sale through our agents across the world in order to avoid speculation because we wanted this wine, which had been chosen as a mythical wine, to remain within reach of everyone.”
As product placement increases in the literary world, this GalleyCat correspondent thinks rejecting this kind of free advertising seems downright weird.