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The Complete Caledonian Imbiber

The Complete Caledonian Imbiber: Episode 2: Knee Deep in Claret

Factual: Food & Drink

Factual: History

Bottled Poetry

Episode 2

Episode 2: Knee Deep in Claret

Knee Deep in Claret

BBC Radio Scotland - The Complete Caledonian Imbiber, Knee Deep in Claret

Billy Kay celebrates the history of Scotland's other national drink, claret.

Billy Kay travels to Bordeaux to celebrate the history of Scotland's other national drink, claret - once called the bloodstream of the auld alliance.

In 1994, Billy Kay made a 4 part series called The Complete Caledonian Imbiber, which celebrated the Scots drouth for the great wines of Europe. The first programme in the archive series, Knee Deep in Claret recounts the history of the red wine of Bordeaux called claret which once bound Scotland and France so closely, it was called the bloodstream of the auld alliance. Billy has written extensively on the subject in his book with Cailean Maclean, Knee Deep in Claret. Here is a flavour.

Ever since the fifteenth century when the Scots fought alongside their Auld Allies to remove the Auld Enemy from their last toehold in south-west France, there has been the underlying suspicion that we were only there for the claret. For one of the long term rewards bestowed on us by the grateful French was the granting of privileges in the wine trade which gave us status and commercial advantage over other nations. A peeved Englishman of the Elizabethan period reluctantly explained the "special relationship" the Scots enjoyed: "Because he hath always been an useful confederate to France against England, he hath right of pre-emption or first choice of wines in Bordeaux; he is also permitted to carry his ordnance to the very walls of the town." The practical result of this was that while the English had to surrender their arms when entering the Gironde, apply for passports, and be subject to curfews, the Scots sailed blythely up river to get the pick of the new vintage at reduced rates, and head home in time for Hogmanay! The Scots official privileges lasted until Colbert, showing no sentimental attachment to the land of his ancestors, withdrew them in the 1660's.

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Episode 2: Knee Deep in Claret

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