The most important question facing civilisation these days is not: ‘‘Are we alone in the universe?” The more pressing issue is whether supplies of petrol are running out.

One company that is taking steps to help prevent this increasingly realistic outcome is Compagnie de Transport Maritime a la Voile (CTMV),which describes itself as Europe’s new merchant navy under sail.

It aims to transport wine, and indeed a huge array of other bulky goods that do not require fuel-driven vessels, by sailing ships.

This method worked for thousands of years before the 19th century and CTMV believes that the re-introduction of sailing ships into today’s daily commercial life will work again.

It has started transporting wine from the Languedoc in France to Ireland aboard its own fleet of Clipper-class vessels.

Almost two thirds of the wine consumed in Ireland is moved from the New World, outside Europe. Anyone who has tried tolift a couple of wine cases will know how bulky and heavy the product is.

Wines from Australia, Chile, California, South Africa, Argentina and New Zealand arrive here on board huge diesel-guzzling tankers that ply the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans on refined aircraft fuel.

This approach to transporting wine is environmentally unsustainable and unnecessary - especially in the case of wines shipped from closer Old World producers.

Wine is CTMV’s initial product for a variety of reasons. Frederic Albert from the Languedoc is the main promoter behind the idea. Coming from a wine background, he has worked in the Irish wine trade and also managed a couple of O’Briens Wines branches, including one on Bray’s seafront.

When he went back to France, the two aspects of sustainability and cost reduction began to concern him. His attention turned to wines, and - unsurprisingly - Languedoc wines.

Wines from the Languedoc have enjoyed a huge increase in sales in Ireland and Britain.

The Languedoc has been singled out by Wine Spectator, Decanter, Robert Parker and this column on a regular basis, as a among the most exciting and innovative regions in the Old World, if not the wine world.

The French hold out a considerable and well-founded hope that the region might provide them with an effective import substitution weapon in the fight against low-cost, ripe and attractive New World wines.

Bordeaux may have the most excellent terroir for cabernet sauvignon in the world, but its primary reason for transforming that terroir into an international commercial and critical success is its magnificent port, a hundred miles inland from the mighty Atlantic corridor to England.

Eight miles of quays within the city limits of Bordeaux, groaning with wine-stuffed riverside warehouses, are testament to its maritime shipping past.

Today, much of Bordeaux’s wine is packed onto pallets, put into cargo containers and transported by giant lorries to a few scattered mega ports that can handle modern super tankers. Languedoc wines often make their way from Mediterranean ports.

Before oil was used for transport, Languedoc wines would not have been dragged to Marseilles or shipped north by truck.

They were sent upriver, or in the case of the Languedoc via the Canal du Midi, the beautiful waterway that stretches from Narbonne on the Mediterranean coast to Bordeaux.

Maintained as a terrific leisure waterway, the Canal du Midi was already open for sustainable transport business when Albert decided that Ireland would be the first destination of his sustainable transport fleet.

Last week, Ireland’s first consignment of wine under sail from France for around 150 years landed at Dublin’s Sir John Rogerson’s Quay.

The consignment comprised around 100 different wines from 60 different wineries in the Languedoc, marking what they hope will be the start of a whole new era in sustainable transport.

Samantha Brodeur of CTMV said: ‘‘We are beginning with wine, first to Ireland because there is a long tradition of such trade. The fleet will consist of five or six vessels, with England, Belgium, Canada and Sweden as the next countries.”

The CTMV project may be green and high-minded, but it also wants to increase trade and make a profit. By launching a fleet of merchant sailing vessels, the Languedoc-Roussillon region is vying to become the first region in Europe to make a very public commitment to a sustainable economic development.

The cargo on these first ships will all carry Ecocert labels indicating that they have been transported ethically and in a sustainable way.

Many of the winemakers who made the journey on board the Belem boat from Bordeaux to Dublin for last week’s launch were impressed with the effect on the wine cargo due to the rolling and pitching of the boat.

On a relatively calm day, ferry passengers will not experience this kind of roll on a big ship which has a much greater displacement and uses hydraulic stabilisers. On a medium sized sailing ship under sail, there will be plenty of pitch and roll.

On board the Belem on the Liffey, there was a sense of awe among people discussing the impact the sailing journey had on the wines being tasted.

The wines were fuller, more open and - apparently - palpably advanced by their week of constant motion on a fairly rough crossing.

I say ‘apparently’ because I only tasted them on this side of the water. To be sure, I would have needed to taste the wines before they left Narbonne. The individual winemakers and owners, not independent tasters, were the ones testifying.

Back in the world of commerce, the CTMV merchant sailing navy has one more trick up its sleeve.

There will be luxurious berths available to Irish merchants on all trips with cargo on board. The merchants will be able to use their trip when they want and can give it as hospitality. Their guests will, literally, be floating on wine.

WINES UNDER SAIL

Fifty-five wineries participated and every bottle will carry a Sail Wine logo and an ECOCERT certificate. They will start appearing on shelves from September 2008.

Chateau Monpezat, Prestige, Vins de Pay D’Oc 2003 (91), €21
Chateau Monpezat, Pharonne, Vins de Pay D’Oc 2005 (89), €25
Chateau Monpezat, Merlot, Vins de Pay D’Oc 2006 (85), €11
Clos des Augustins, Le Gamin, AC Coteaux du Languedoc 2004 (88), €14
Clos des Augustins, Sourire D’Odile, AC Coteaux du Languedoc 2003 (90), €20
Le Chemin des Reves, L’Exuberant, Coteaux du Languedoc 2005 (89), €13
Le Chemin des Reves, Utopie 1, Coteaux du Languedoc 2004 (90), €18
Domaine Cazes, L’Ostal Cazes, AC Minervois La Liviniere 2004 (92), €25

E-mail the wine column at tc@iol.ie