Camille’s search for the origin of her father’s final, unlabeled bottle of wine takes a scientific turn. After a costly mistake, she turns to the bottle’s beeswax seal for answers, leading her and a recovering Issei from a French research lab to a beekeeper’s hillside in Athens.
The second episode of Drops of God Season 2, titled “The Quest,” shows the half-siblings working together on the new challenge from their late father, Alexandre Léger. He left a final task: identify the origin of a mysterious, unlabeled wine to be considered superior to him. What begins as a collaborative effort, however, is quickly strained by old rivalries and Issei’s secretive actions.
From the Trash to the Lab: A Beeswax Investigation Begins
The search starts with a major setback. In a moment of frustration, Camille poured the precious wine down the drain and threw away the empty bottle. To begin the investigation, she must retrieve the bottle from the garbage. Her focus lands on the sticky sealant used to close the bottle, which she identifies as beeswax—a material rarely used in modern winemaking.
Camille enlists the help of Philippe and his friend Raphael, a beekeeper. Raphael attempts to identify the wax by its melting point but finds it is made by common bees, not a rare species, which offers no clear geographic clue. He suggests a different approach: a microbiological analysis of the wax at a lab in Aix-en-Provence. This test can identify pollen trapped within the wax, revealing the types of flowers the bees visited and potentially the region they came from.
When Camille updates Issei from his hospital bed, he is frustrated by her indirect method. He believes testing the wine itself would be faster, not knowing she had already destroyed it. This moment highlights the tension between them, with Issei feeling sidelined and suspecting Camille of hijacking the quest for her own glory.
Tasting Over 100 Wines to Find a “Forbidden” Grape
Parallel to the wax analysis, Camille pursues the wine’s identity by its taste. She remembers a distinct, unplaceable minerality. With Thomas, she visits the Vassal Research Center, home to the world’s largest collection of grape varieties.
There, she and Thomas begin the monumental task of tasting 123 samples of wine made from preserved “forbidden” grape varieties. In a visually striking scene, Camille is joined by Issei, who against medical advice discharges himself from the hospital to participate. The trio tastes dozens of wines until they find a match: the Herbemont grape.
The director explains Herbemont’s notorious reputation. A myth says wine made from it can drive people mad, but the truth is economic. The grape is naturally resistant to disease and doesn’t require chemical pesticides. Its cultivation was banned in 1935 in France, partly due to pressure from the chemical industry. Finding this grape is a crucial breakthrough, narrowing their search to a wine made from a banned and largely forgotten variety.
The Athens Connection Leads to a Beekeeper and a Plan
The results from the beeswax lab arrive, pointing to a specific location. Raphael analyzes the pollen data and concludes the bees likely foraged on flowers native to Acropolis Hill in Athens, Greece.
Camille and Issei travel to Athens. While Camille searches a lab for leads, Issei waits outside and is unexpectedly approached by an older man named Alexi Pipia. Alexi, originally from Georgia, is a pious beekeeper who sends his wax back to a monastery in his home village of Kartli. The monastery uses the wax to make prayer candles, giving it a “holy” purpose. He also reveals the monastery makes wine.
This encounter happens without Camille. She later finds Issei on the phone with Dai, seeking a trustworthy contact in Georgia. The episode creates a cliffhanger when a taxi arrives for Issei. Camille directly asks if he was planning to go to Georgia without her. He denies it, but the look on her face shows she believes he was, leaving their partnership on shaky ground. This moment underscores the episode’s central tension, described as a “sibling rivalry that won’t die”.
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A Partnership Tested by Old Wounds and New Secrets
The quest for the wine is complicated by the difficult history between Camille and Issei. Issei is recovering from a near-fatal free-diving accident and suffers from a severe pneumopathy, a lung condition that requires rest. His father, Hirokazu, leaves France abruptly, explaining to Issei that he cannot watch him “drown” again—referencing a childhood incident in Okinawa.
Issei’s behavior is often cold and dismissive toward Camille. Observers note the two are “working together, but they aren’t together,” and their dynamic has regressed into a frosty rivalry. Issei’s secretive meeting with Alexi and the arranged taxi feed Camille’s suspicion that he will abandon her to solve the mystery alone.
Meanwhile, Camille’s own motivations are questioned. Her mother, Marianne, believes Camille is not just helping Issei but is driven by her own desire to surpass their father, Alexandre, displaying his narcissistic traits. Camille becomes so absorbed in the search she neglects her work and family, hinting at a deeper obsession.
The episode ends with the next destination clear but the partnership in doubt. The clues from the beeswax and the Herbemont grape have led them to a Georgian monastery with a winemaking tradition. Whether Camille and Issei travel there together or separately will test the fragile alliance they formed at the start of this new quest.
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