Drops of God Star Fleur Geffrier Reveals Insights on Season 2

When Drops of God was awarded top honors as Best Drama Series at International Emmy Awards in November 2024, Fleur Geffrier, who plays lead character Camille Léger, had little time to celebrate. The French actor was in the middle of filming season two of the multilingual hit series, set in Greece, Spain, the Republic of Georgia, Japan and multiple regions of France.

“Filming season two was a great, big adventure,” Geffrier told Wine Spectator. “Like season one, it’s a human story told in the context of the wine world. But in season two we go deeper into the family’s relationships. And there’s more tension—it’s like a thriller in some scenes.”

Fans of the Apple TV original series will be eager to learn that the Drops of God eight-episode season two premieres on Jan. 21, with new episodes dropping through March 11, streaming on Apple TV+. (And don’t miss her appearance on our latest podcast episode!)

Based on Tadashi Agi’s best-selling Japanese manga series, season one of the French-Japanese Drops of God adaptation tells the story of Léger, whose estranged father has just died and left her his $150 million wine collection. The catch: In order to claim her inheritance, she must pass a series of seemingly unfeasible blind tasting challenges in competition with her father’s talented protégé, Issei Tomine (Tomohisa Yamashita). While set in the world of wine, the show is a fast-paced drama that blends legacy and painful family histories with beautiful wine country scenery and the magic (and absurdities) of fine wine rituals.

The storyline was intended to conclude with season one, Geffrier explained, as that is where the original manga series ends, but audiences wanted more of the bingeable narrative. Season two picks up three years later, when Camille and Issei—who have discovered they are siblings—are faced with another seemingly impossible challenge left behind by their late father. They must find the origin of a bottle that Léger deemed the world’s greatest wine, a mystery he never solved in his lifetime. The quest sends them to an array of wine regions all over the world, where secrets emerge and their newfound brother-sister bond is threatened.

Wine Spectator senior editor Kristen Bieler sat down with Geffrier to learn more about what audiences can expect in season two, how Drops of God has influenced her own wine journey and which region is her favorite.

Your character, Camille, is a “supertaster,” someone with a heightened sensitivity to and memory for wine’s flavors and aromas. How do you get into this character?

When we're on set, we are drinking water with color in it, so it has no taste. But the character is always explaining what she is experiencing, what she is feeling when she tastes. So I try to connect to her sensation: ‘What does the idea of citrus make me feel inside? What does that feel like physically? What is the memory I have linked to that?’ So I tried to change the tone of my voice, to speak lower, to be more connected to just a sensation.

Siblings Camille Léger and Issei Tomine (Tomohisa Yamashita) must team up to solve a new mystery from their late father. (Courtesy Apple TV)

Your real life father was a chef and restaurateur in Southwest France, where you were born and raised, so you grew up around food and wine as part of everyday life. How did your Drops of God experience change you as a wine drinker?

I’ve always enjoyed wine, but before doing the show, I didn’t know why I liked the wines I liked; I couldn’t say why I would prefer one over another. Thanks to Drops of God, now I'm able to understand much more; that there are many dozens of aromas that emerge in a wine after fermentation and I learned how one can identify a wine’s origins from those aromas. Now, when I go to dinner with friends I always bring a nice bottle and we talk about it, just for five minutes, and then we appreciate it more.

Your friends must think you are a wine expert now. What advice do you give them?

Just taste! Don’t be intimidated. Wine is more of an art than a science, so you can’t be wrong in what you like. Sometimes you see a beautiful painting and you don’t understand it, but you love it. But when you know more about the painting, you will enjoy it a bit more. The same is true with wine, the more you know the more it enhances your enjoyment.

What have been some of your most interesting lessons about wine through filming the series?

The original manga series introduced me to the concept of the three essential elements to producing great wine—it’s the combination of “the man, the sky, the earth”, which really moved me. Wine is something that men have produced on the earth where they live for thousands of years, with the influence of the sky, or the weather.

I found it fascinating to learn that the deeper a vine’s roots go into the earth, the more complexity you will find in the wine. And that you can actually hear the sound of a wine when it starts to ferment. Perhaps most profound was observing the relationship between the winemaker and his land and vines; it's something beautiful to see.

In season two, Camille’s character has changed dramatically. She is now a successful wine entrepreneur in a romantic relationship—and she actually drinks wine!

Her difficult relationship with her father had caused her to turn against wine, but now she is in love with her boyfriend, Thomas Chassangre, and they are operating their newly renovated winery together. She is no longer chained to the trauma connected to her late father, and she can drink wine, which is a big relief for her.

She has come to realize that her father was not the horrible man she thought he was while growing up, and that he loved her in his own weird way. But she still wants nothing to do with him, and believes she is free of needing his influence, even from the grave. But she is wrong, and you will see this in the second season. She has swept all her emotions under a carpet and is much too focused on her work. It is wine and her father’s ghost that help her understand this.

Their journey takes them across France, Greece, Spain and the Republic of Georgia. (Courtesy Apple TV)

Production for season two was an eight-month journey that took you across the globe. Which was the most challenging place to film? The most beautiful?

Marseille was incredibly difficult, as we had to access the place where we were filming by walking or by boat and it was extremely windy, so hard to carry in everything by hand along steep cliffs by the sea. Perhaps the most beautiful place was Georgia, where we were surrounded by mountains and all the local people have small vineyards in their garden, so the countryside is filled with vines. Where we filmed in Châteauneuf close to the Luberon in southern France is also really stunning—it is hard to choose!

The fictional château that Camille now co-owns, Domaine Chassangre, was set at the real life Château de Beaucastel owned by the Perrin family in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, which was recently rebuilt to be one of the most sustainable wineries in the world. How did this influence the Drops of God storyline?

Beaucastel was where we started shooting the first season, so it is a very special place for all of us. At that time, we knew the Perrin family was starting construction on a new facility, but we had no idea how amazing it would be—it was truly incredible to discover what they had done when we returned for season two.

It’s built from the earth excavated for the domaine and engineered to create its own natural air-conditioning—I was so impressed. The new Beaucastel winery inspired the second season in so many ways, particularly the ecological consciousness of Camille and Thomas.

There are some pretty spectacular wines featured in season two. Which were your favorites?

We were lucky to have so many great wines. I loved the Champagne Rosé Billecart-Salmon. But the wine that really hit me was the Château d'Yquem Sauternes. I tasted this wine with my grandfather when I was very small and remember it clearly. Tasting it again on the set was incredible. I couldn’t believe how much the wine changes; after an hour in the glass it’s a very different wine.

Much of the series is set in Georgia. Will we now find Georgian wines in your home cellar?

Georgia was an amazing country to discover. We felt something special when we arrived in Tbilisi and then explored the countryside. The wines are made so differently here from anywhere else in the world, and I really like the unique orange wines they make. I bought many bottles to bring home but I already drank them all!

If you had to pick only one wine to drink for the rest of your life, what would it be?

I love Bordeaux. There's something in those wines that feels like a hug. When you drink it, you feel better somehow; your heart feels warmer.

For more insights on the new season of Drops of God, listen to Fleur Geffrier’s interview on our podcast, Straight Talk with Wine Spectator.