Global: Mon Dieu! French fall out of love with red wine

Ask anybody what makes France French and wine invariably comes near to the top of the list.

Like tea in Britain, and beer in Germany, the drink produced from the blessed vine has a sacred quality to it – one that influences almost every area of traditional Gallic life.

This is why you always used to see a bottle of claret or Champagne in all typically French situations – from relaxed gatherings in rural cafés to governmental meetings at the Élysée Palace in Paris.

Along with the blue-white-and-red tricolour flag, or the cockerel on international rugby shirts, it was all part of le patrimoine, or cultural heritage.

Such certainties are fast ­eroding, however, as France’s embattled wine industry reports rapidly declining sales.

The biggest problem of all is a younger generation that is far happier drinking water, fizzy drinks or fruit juice.

Until 1956, even French school canteens were allowed to serve a half-litre of wine, cider or beer to pupils aged under 14.

Fifty years ago, the amount of wine consumed per head of population in France was 160 litres a year.

By 2010 it had fallen to 57 litres, however, and – according to the latest figures from the country’s Health Ministry – it won’t be long before it falls to 30 litres.

Over-production and immense competition from overseas producers within the rapidly expanding global economy are other threats to a French wine industry that is currently valued at about £22 billion.

It may sound surprising to many, but France is currently only the third-largest wine producer in the world, after Italy and Spain (the largest consumer is the United States, but it, of course, has a population some six times larger than France’s).

The situation is so worrying that more than 300 vineyards in Bordeaux, considered by many to be the capital of world wine, is slowly switching to olive and walnut production, because it is considered more profitable.

“It doesn’t matter whether I ­produce good or bad wine – I can’t sell it,” said Didier Cousinez, spokesman for a wine producers’ group in the Gironde, the French department that has Bordeaux as its capital, and where about 80,000 people rely on wine for their livelihood.

Bordeaux alone is linked with 65 appellations and some 300,000 acres that include 7,000 châteaux, as well as the renowned merlot and cabernet sauvignon grapes.

Household name estates around Bordeaux include Lafite-Rothschild, Latour, Margaux, and Cheval Blanc, which can all sell bottles for well over £1,000 each.

Cheval Blanc is owned by French multi-billionaire Bernard Arnaut, currently the richest man in the world and head of the LVMH luxury goods conglomerate.

But most of the wines in the Bordeaux region beyond the giant labels sell for well under £10 a bottle, with an average price of just over £5.

“Around a third of the ­department’s 4,000 vineyards are in real difficulty and local families are struggling,” said Cousinez. “People are drinking other things – they prefer beer or fizzy drinks to wine. We’ve been living below the break-even point for more than a decade now.”

Bordeaux producers want to pull up about 37,000 acres – just over 10% of the total – and to get the equivalent of £8,800 per acre from the government in compensation, as part of an emergency plan.

Prices need to go up, they argue, and the way to do this is to get rid of unsold stocks by distilling it into industrial alcohol, so that it can be used in the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries.

This short-term fix worked ­during the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic, when demand collapsed, and stocks accumulated.

So far, the government is still listening to the producers, but its emergency plan is not considered generous enough.

Marc Fesneau, France’s ­agriculture minister, has pledged £140 million ( €160m) in aid, and there has been an application to the EU for £35m (€40m)

Fesneau is offering the ­equivalent of £5,200 in compensation per acre – well under the £8,800 the producers say they need.

This all means that there is still considerable anger being aimed at governmental bodies.

A lot of it is also focused on official anti-alcohol campaigns that have also led to a drop in sales of all traditional French drinks – Pastis and Cognac, for example, as well as wine.

Santé Publique – France’s ­public health agency – has launched a series of advertisements warning that lives are at stake.

“For your health, alcohol should be limited to a maximum of two glasses per day, and not every day either,” the publicity advises.

Campaign literature warns that some 25% of French people regularly exceed safe limits, and that many end up among the 41,000-plus who die from alcohol-related causes every year.

“Our goal is to enable the French to make the informed choice of a consumption that is less risky for your health,” said a Santé Publique spokesman.

President Emmanuel Macron himself used to boast that “I drink wine at lunch and dinner”, and claimed that young people were less likely to get drunk on wine than on strong beer.

Macron also pointed at wine being linked with health benefits, including helping people to digest their food better, and to relax more, but he has now become relatively silent on the subject.

The head of state naturally appears more focused on the alarming social situation in France, where there are almost permanent strikes and street protests against his plans to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64.

Joël Boueilh, president of France’s Agricultural Winegrowers Association, said Bordeaux was at the epicentre of the slump, but the crisis had spread across the country.

“There are problems in the south of France in general, especially with red wine and other areas are also affected,” said Boueilh. “There are problems everywhere, and the situation is getting worse. We are all united in trying to find a solution to this crisis.”