French vineyard owners have started shipping their wine across the English Channel by sail. Last August, 60,000 bottles of wine were shipped from Languedoc in France to Ireland aboard the 170-foot barque Belem. Citing an effort to cut carbon emissions, the vintners have recently announced their intention to exclusively ship their exports to Irish, English and later Canadian ports by sail.

Each trip from France to Dublin is estimated to last for four days, but will save an estimated 18,375 pounds of carbon emissions. (For you bean-counting carbon-aware readers, shipping a bottle of wine by air from France to Ireland produces 4.9 ounces of carbon per bottle.) Further voyages to Bristol, Manchester and Canada are planned in the near future. Adding to the by-water connection, the wines will be delivered to the French port by barge using the Canal du Midi and Canal du Garonne, which run across southern France.

Private investors have contributed 70 percent of the business's start-up costs, while bank loans have provided the rest. In addition to further charters of the Belem (which was launched in 1896) a fleet of seven modern sailing ships are planned to be working by 2013, with the first expected to be launched in October this year. The ships are expected to make the return trip to France carrying an equivalent tonnage of crushed glass for recycling into wine bottles.

Photo: Courtesy of Foundation Belem.