Blood of the Vine

The body of an old man is discovered lying next to a glass of wine, alongside empty glasses.

An elderly couple approaches Benjamin at a book signing to appraise 40 bottles of rare Sauternes.

While on tour in Burgundy, Benjamin is approached by the son of a notable estate owner seeking his professional expertise.

Benjamin reluctantly agrees to meet with a business partner to discuss an appraisal of a failing estate, but is not immediately aware of the estate's tumultuous history.

Benjamin is hired to advise in the fate of a coastal wine estate after the owner's death, which the widow Angèle Marcarol wants to donate to a Catholic monastery, but the notary Coutil dies before he can execute the deed from slow poison administered over time and the monks won't be linked to such bloody scandal. Benjamin finds the widow and her confident estate manager are targeted since long. Her estranged daughter is the latest conquest of ambitious local reality show star hunk Thibault Berger, who hopes to play the lead I a biopic on Benjamin, but gets shot in a confusing incident at the estate. paramilitary police captain Paul Lescaut finds his master in Benjamin.

Benjamin has due reserves when he accept to attend the funeral in Nantes of a wine grower who died from a shark attack 'because' he followed Lebel's advice to try his ambitions of originality in South Africa. Heiress daughter Gloria Guillemin surprises Benjamin by announcing unilaterally he's to head the 'posthumous' innovation project, outranking the present estate manager, Yann Coussou, who died from a gun shot the police stubbornly considers a plausible suicide. Lebel still is the prime suspect in case of murder, having arrived just then while ignoring Yann's intentions, so he resolves to clear the case himself, digging into family and estate backgrounds.