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The Complete Caledonian Imbiber

The Complete Caledonian Imbiber: Episode 3: Let Them Drink Port!

Factual: Food & Drink

Bottled Poetry

Episode 3

Episode 3: Let Them Drink Port!

Let Them Drink Port!

BBC Radio Scotland - The Complete Caledonian Imbiber, Let Them Drink Port!

Billy Kay celebrates the Scottish contribution to the great fortified wine, Port.

Billy Kay travels to Oporto and the Douro to celebrate the Scottish contribution to one of the world's great fortified wines, Port.

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. In this, the third programme of the archive series Billy travelled to Oporto and the Douro to celebrate the Scottish contribution to one of the world's great fortified wines, Port.

Port did not get off to a good start in Scotland after the Union, when Jacobites and cultural nationalists drank claret as a symbol of Scots independence, rather than succumb to the "politically correct" English favourite, Port. The national standpoint was expressed in rhyme. 

Firm and erect, the Caledonian stood
Old was his mutton and his claret good.
Let them drink Port! The English statesman cried,
He drank the poison and his spirit died.

John Home, politically far from being Jacobite, wrote that epigram, proving that the country was united in seeing claret as a symbol of Scottish identity. 

Port however gained a toehold in Scotland following the Peninsular War of the 19th century, and young Scots with names like Cockburn, Dow, Graham, Gould, Campbell and Sandeman flocked to the Douro and sold wine home to their countrymen, who were developing a taste for it.

The Grahams. For example, whose vintage port is renowned among the cognoscenti, came into port by accident. A textile and dry goods firm in Glasgow, they had already firmly established factories in Bombay, Lisbon and Oporto when, in 1820 a bad debt accrued in the latter city. The only asset the debtor had was liquid so a consignment of port was reluctantly sent to the Clyde. Once they overcame their initial shock and anger, the head office discovered to their surprise that they couldn't sell enough of the stuff and so they ordered more!

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