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The Complete Caledonian Imbiber

The Complete Caledonian Imbiber: Episode 6: Homage to Catalunya, Aragon and Arbikie

Factual: Food & Drink

Bottled Poetry

Episode 6

Episode 6: Homage to Catalunya, Aragon and Arbikie

Homage to Catalunya, Aragon and Arbikie

BBC Radio Scotland - The Complete Caledonian Imbiber, Homage to Catalunya, Aragon and Arbikie

Billy Kay meets Scots wine makers in Spain and visits a farm distillery in Angus.

Billy Kay travels to Aragon and Catalonia to meet Scottish wine makers Norrel Robertson and Pamela Geddes, and visits a family farm in Angus making gin, vodka and whisky.

In the final episode, Billy Kay travels to Aragon and Catalonia to meet Scottish winemakers making a name for themselves there and here. Norrel Robertson from Forfar makes renowned Garnacha wines from grapes picked in his remote hilltop vineyards near Calatayud. There the scent of wild mountain thyme imparts a distinctive fresh bouquet to grapes in this cradle of the Grenache wine grape which went with the Romans to France. Norrel is a Master of Wine - one of only 385 in the world, so it was a pleasure for Billy to taste wines with someone with his knowledge and passion. Pamela Geddes from Bridge of Allan makes sparkling red and rosé wines in her Bodega in the Cava producing area of Penedés. Pamela takes Billy through the hands on process which makes sparkling wine the unique product it is, with every bottle is handled at least seven times by the winemaker. Pamela admits that she is hooked on bubbles, and loves her work. 

And Billy brings the story of our love for strong drink up to date with a visit to the farm distillery at Arbikie in beautiful Lunan Bay in Angus, which grows all of its own ingredients to make gin, vodka and malt whisky. Iain Stirling's family have been farmers in Scotland since the 17th century. When Iain and his two brothers sought to diversify, they were delighted to find that their farm at Arbikie had distilled malt whisky back in the 18th century. They grow their own barley, and their first batch of Arbikie malt Is slowly maturing now in cask, but Billy was able to taste their potato vodka and Kirsty's gin - which uses kelp, carline thistle root and blaeberries which grow between the distillery and the sea down below.

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Episode 6: Homage to Catalunya, Aragon and Arbikie

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