A podcast for lovers of wine, beer, liquor (incl. whisky, whiskey, bourbon, vodka tequila etc) and cocktails, Drinks Adventures hosts wine makers, brewing and distilling experts, sommeliers, bartenders & more.

Blind Ambition is a new film about four Zimbabwean sommeliers who form a team and compete in the World Blind Wine Tasting Championships in Burgundy.

It's like a wine equivalent of the ultimate sports underdog tale, Cool Runnings, the 1993 film inspired by the true story of the first Jamaican national bobsled team.

But unlike Cool Runnings, Blind Ambition is all true. It’s a documentary directed by Australian filmmakers Warwick Ross and Rob Coe, who are with us this episode of the Drinks Adventures podcast.

Warwick and Rob were behind the 2013 film Red Obsession, which explored how France’s finest wines have skyrocketed in price having become a status symbol in China.

As you’ll hear from Warwick, the film was made possible by two of our previous guests, Jancis Robinson (S4E4) and Andrew Caillard (S7E4).

When Jancis heard the story of these four Zimbabwean sommeliers who had fled Robert Mugabe’s regime, she set up a crowdfunding campaign to get them to France where they would test their skills against expert tasters from 26 other countries. The first black team ever to do so.

Make sure you see the film as it’s brilliant and very moving. You don’t need to be interested in wine to enjoy it, in fact it recently won the audience award at both Tribeca (New York) and Sydney Film Festivals.

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