French to Ship Wine by Three-Masted Barque

belem.jpgIt’s been over a hundred years, but soon a three-masted, 19th century barque will transport 60,000 bottles of French wine from Bordeaux to Dublin. And this is just the beginning for vintners in the Languedoc region.

The 170 foot Belem, launched in 1896, spent many years transporting choclate from South America, and gets it’s name from a Brazilian port. It will be the first of seven three-masted vessels planned to be in service by 2013, all apparently slated to transport French wines as far as Canada.

Frederic Albert, owner of the ship, is quoted by The Guardian as saying, “My idea was to do something for the planet and something for the wines of Languedoc. One of my grandfathers was a wine-maker and one was a sailor”.

The delivery by ship will take longer than a flight, but Albert says it will save 18,375lb of carbon.

Each bottle transported by the Belem will be labelled: “Carried by sailing ship, a better deal for the planet”.

6 thoughts on “French to Ship Wine by Three-Masted Barque”

  1. Le Copy Cats.

    Seems a Texan had the ideal first with coffee.

    You can find lots on the internet and E-bay by searching El Lago Coffee

    Fred

  2. Hi,

    I live in italy so we have the luxury of having many good wines available in our internal market, moreover it’s actually possible to purchase it directly from the producer.

    i like this idea very much, it would be a good idea to extend it to other non expiring goods, for many of witch having to wait a few days more is not that critical.

    I’m a boy scout chief and i take my boys from time to time sailing on small wind boats on our lakes, it’s actually quite fun, and you perceive a new sensation of speed, i would propose this to any person who likes team sports, you don’t have to be a genius to govern a small boat as long as there is at least one expert on board, it’s wonderful for bonding the team, as physical exercise, and achievable speeds basically all depend on how good the team work is.

    you have both my thumbs up for this project ^_^

  3. How cool! I was fortunate enough to sail on a two-masted ship for two weeks on a school program. We were deck hands and took on a great deal of responsibility. It was a great experience (and yes, I did actually get to shout “land ho!”). I just wish they had something like this when I was in college – what a cool summer job!

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