For centuries, wine drinking has been at the heart of French identity.
Now, however, in a development that will have traditionalists spluttering, it has emerged that last year for the first time, the French drank more beer than wine.
Beer consumption outstripped that of wine by ten million litres, according to figures released this week by the International Organisation of Vine and Wine.
Gen Z drink less alcohol than their elders and when they do drink, they tend to reach for a pint.
Over the past three decades, wine consumption has fallen by 37 per cent, although France’s population has grown by about 15 per cent.
“I drink more beer than wine,” she said. “I do like wine with a good dinner, but beer is better when you’re just meeting friends for a drink. I might occasionally have a glass of white wine or rosé, but red wine is too strong. I would only ever drink it with a meal. Beer is more relaxing after work.”
Once regarded as vastly less sophisticated than the “noble grape”, beer’s image has been transformed.
The august wine journal La Revue du Vin de France now devotes a regular section to craft beers, parsing their flavours and composition with the same solemnity it reserves for grands crus.
In recent issues it has asked whether fine-dining restaurants should list beers as they do wines, and has taste-tested beer glasses, analysing which shapes best bring out the aromas.
Another reason for the decline of wine drinking is economic: beer is less expensive, especially for cash-strapped young adults, and more people are reserving wine for special occasions.
The shift also reflects lifestyle changes. Martin Cubertafond, of Sciences Po university, said wine was usually served at formal family meals at home, but the number of single-parent families had risen. More than two thirds of households now consist of only one or two people. Big Sunday lunches at which a bottle naturally appears are less common. “Wine isn’t an option with takeouts or lunches that take less than 30 minutes,” Cubertafond said.
The pain for winegrowers is most acute in Bordeaux, where producers of everyday red wines have been struggling to stay in business.
The government has spent tens of millions of euros subsidising growers to rip up vines, and over the past decade about a fifth of France’s vineyard area has disappeared.
Health concerns are another drag on the daily glass of rouge. Like drinkers elsewhere, the French are increasingly cautious about alcohol, and sales of alcohol‑free beer rose by 12 per cent last year. Alcohol-free wine has been slower to catch on.
In total, the French drank 22.1 million hectolitres of beer and 22 million hectolitres of wine last year. In the 1960s, annual per-capita wine consumption in France was 127 litres. Today it is only 40 litres.
Yet more than 90 per cent of French people still regard wine as an cornerstone of their culture and a “noble” product that burnishes the country’s image abroad, according to a recent survey.
