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Because the Purple Hook Star-Revue reported final month, French firm Grain de Sail’s fashionable cargo sailboat lastly docked within the Brooklyn Bridge Park marina in mid-Could. The sailboat and its 4 crew members left Saint-Malo, France, on April 16 to embark on a three-month-long Transatlantic voyage that might make stops in New York and the Dominican Republic.
The vessel is exclusive as a result of it’s powered by the wind – utilizing two wind generators, photovoltaic panels, and hydro mills to fulfill its onboard vitality wants and import uncooked supplies. It value two million Euros, or roughly $2,439,000, to construct.
Grain de Sail arrived in New York Metropolis on Could 13 after 27 days on the Atlantic Ocean. It introduced 8,000 bottles of natural, biodynamic, and pure French wine and 500 bars of chocolate to shore.
The Purple Hook Star-Revue toured the 50-ton, 72-foot-long aluminum schooner on Could 16, seeing firsthand what the vessel appeared like – each above and beneath deck – and the way it was in a position to make its journey to the Huge Apple on schedule.
About 450 folks booked excursions aboard the vessel throughout its two-week keep in port. There, company had been in a position to study extra concerning the vessel’s superior inexperienced transit options, in addition to sip Grain de Sail’s signature wines with a slice of cheese and baguette. They had been additionally in a position to take dwelling a memento chocolate bar of their selecting.
Matthieu Riou, Grain de Sail’s U.S. wines & spirits director, confirmed that each one 500 chocolate bar samples and about 70 bottles of wine had been consumed through the keep.
The boat’s hull, which is designed for 26 pallets of cargo, was properly insulated and clocked in at between 18 and 20 levels Celsius. This temperature stored the wine at an applicable temperature for journey, in accordance with Riou. The pallets had been additionally secured with hygrometry stabilization, making this sailboat the world’s first purpose-built floating wine cellar beneath sail.
All Grain de Sail wines had been put by way of a “taste-resiliency check,” which concerned inserting bottles in cargo sailboats for no less than three weeks at sea and tasting them at numerous intervals after they return – typically upon returning to the harbor, then one week later, after which one other two weeks thereafter. Their wines additionally underwent malolactic fermentation, which Grain de Sail defined is a means of winemaking that’s principally utilized in Burgundies and Chardonnays and offers the wines a form of creamy, buttery style.
The sailboat left Brooklyn on Could 26 and proceeded south to the Dominican Republic. As soon as touchdown there after a couple of week on the water, the plan was to select up natural espresso and cocoa beans.
“It will create a virtuous circle between the Previous Continent and the New,” Grain de Sail stated of the three locations slated for its most up-to-date journey.
The final leg of the journey again dwelling to Brittany, the place chocolate and low are produced on the firm’s manufacturing unit, takes about one month. Although Grain de Sail solely sells its candies and low in Brittany in the mean time, plans are within the works to construct extra factories – together with presumably a New York Metropolis chocolate manufacturing unit in 10 years.
Grain de Sail is starting to design a second cargo sailboat, which will probably be twice the dimensions of the present sailboat, maintain round 250 pallets of cargo, and be operational by 2023. However the final purpose of the corporate’s founders is to construct a fleet of cargo sailboats to pursue the search of high-quality merchandise inside its maritime, human, and environmental journey.
Riou advised the Purple Hook Star-Revue that company are eagerly seeking to purchase the wines and that Grain de Sail can also be seeking to broaden its distribution. If any wine outlets, wine bars, or eating places have an interest, they will contact him immediately at matthieu.riou@graindesail.com.
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