The first-ever shipment of ‘green energy wine’ arrived in Dublin Port recently via Fine Wind Wine.

Chosen from award-winning vineyards in the South of France, the wine was transported to Ireland aboard the 108 year-old Kathleen & May schooner to reduce the carbon footprint of the wine – each bottle will save 4.9oz of CO2 emissions and is labelled,  “Carried by sailing ship, a better deal for the planet”.

Tackling climate change and reducing carbon emissions is one of the biggest challenges we face today, according to Frederic Albert, President of Fair Wind Wine. 

“By offering great wines at competitive prices, people will be free to act in a greener way,” he said, “Our company has found a modern innovative solution to reduce CO2 emissions, by looking to the past – traditional shipping routes - and by chartering traditional ships. With oil prices at an all-time high, our company will be able to ship goods at low rate by using sailing ships. The fine premium wines will be travelling by sea like in the old days. We have chosen the best premium wines in the region, but they have also been made in a sustainable agriculture way”.

The wine sailed onboard the Kathleen & May schooner from the Summer Maritime Festival in Brest where vessels celebrated maritime sailing traditions. The project represented the realisation of a dream by biodynamic Languedoc-Roussillon wine producer Michel Escande to transport his wines by green energy. More than 12,000 bottles made the journey aboard the schooner. 

O’Briens Fine Wines and Gilbeys of Ireland were the first importers to take advantage of this innovative transportation and reduce their carbon footprint.  Hegarty #3 is exclusively available throughout all O’Briens off-licences while Gilbeys of Ireland is importing and distributing the award-winning Borie de Maurel estate wines from Languedoc-Roussillon on an exclusive basis.

To celebrate this historic first shipment, a limited 3,600 bottles went on sale to the public - at only €7.99 per bottle - onboard the Kathleen & May when it moored outside the IFSC for three days late last month.

And waiting on the quay to collect her wine from winemaker Gabriel Escande (son of Michel) was Julie Cullen of Just De Vine in Portmarnock, North Dublin, the first Irish customer to buy Borie de Maurel

Compagnie de Transport Maritime á la Voile (CTMV) also introduced Fair Wind Wine to Canada during Quebec’s  400th anniversary celebrations recently.  Again, by researching traditional wine routes, the company transported wine on the three-masted  Belem, a 14th Century merchant vessel, the oldest of its kind in Europe.  This month CTMV plans to open a route to Bristol in the UK as well as to Copenhagen in Denmark and to Sweden.