BORDEAUX The seasonal product of the Epiphany period in France is the Three Kings tart, but this year when I was buying it, a surprising question came to me. The seller also suggested bottled cider. They say it’s good and comes from Brittany.
Cider is a suitable choice as a companion to the almond-filled pastry, but I don’t remember the bakery suggesting a bottle as a companion to the bun before.
Although the proposal can be considered as customer service, the background may also be the clearly increased activity of the alcohol industry.
Lobbying by wine producers is also thought to be behind the fact that the state is not involved in the Tipato Januar project of about sixty health organizations. The state participates, for example, in the similar “Month without tobacco” campaign organized in November.
The French Institute of Public Health was going to join the campaign to curb alcohol consumption in 2020, but the support was unexpectedly cancelled.
Organizations suspect that even the president himself is behind it Emmanuel Macron, who has been very close to the wine producers. The president says that he himself drinks wine when dining, which the most passionate interpret as promoting the use of wine.
Consumption drops drastically
24 years old living in the wine city of Bordeaux Florian Lauze is a concrete example of the threat that France’s approximately 85,000 wine producers see in front of them.
He doesn’t drink alcohol at all, because he decided to live without drugs at the age of 9, and the experiments of his youth did not get him excited about it. The taste was not good and I felt bad after drinking it.
– So I won’t participate in the non-stop January, laughs the young man.
More and more young people choose a non-alcoholic drink, and the use of others is clearly different from that of previous generations.
Lauze says that her grandparents always drink a glass of wine with meals and her father only enjoys it on weekends.
– My friends don’t either anymore, they only drink at parties. Even then, mainly beer, because it’s more convenient and cheaper.
In France, alcoholic beverages, especially wine, are still an integral part of everyday life and celebrations.
Sauternes is enjoyed with foie gras, dry white wine is sipped with oysters, robust Bordeaux accompanies steak, and champagne is suitable for every celebration. If there is too much food, take a “Normandian hole”, a small sip of calvado, so that the stomach can fit more. And finally, cognac.
Wine is part of the national cultural heritage that defines the different regions of France. Back in the early 1990s, wine was even offered as a food drink in university restaurants.
Published at Christmas time, to be done every five years research according to, since the 1960s, French wine consumption has decreased by about 60 percent. Nowadays, only 51 percent of French people over the age of 18 drink wine.
Generation Z born in the 21st century is even less interested in wine. Wine producers blame environmental thinking and health trends for this.
According to Florian Lauze, the attitude towards absolutism has changed a lot in recent years. When he was younger, drinking was almost forced. But now alcohol-free is mostly a matter of notification.
– Absolutism rarely arouses wonder anymore.
Statistics support this attention. According to the study, 19 percent of French people do not drink alcohol at all. In five years, the number has increased by five percentage points.
Lauze also says that “sober party” is a new trend. Young people interested in their health know how to party without booze.
Marketing has moved to social media
However, the entire Z generation does not spit in the glass, but uses wine in a distinctly different way than their parents. According to the study, 28 percent of young people drink wine, and they are more interested in how wine is produced than previous generations.
While the older French chose their wine straightforwardly according to the region and the vintage, the young people are interested in the grapes, local conditions, designations of origin and the stories behind the wines. Ecological production without pesticides is increasingly important.
The wine industry also adapts its products to be more suitable for young people. In exchange for the “easier” take-along beer, wine is increasingly available in cans in France as well.
Although wine enthusiasts turn their noses up at aluminum cans, the 2.5-deciliter packages are convenient, especially for rosé and white wines. Wine bottles, on the other hand, have more and more screw caps.
Of course, the wine can also be seen on social media. The photo and video service Instagram is clearly the most popular channel for sharing content about wine and wine culture. No wonder all the major wine producers and brokers advertise there, produce content and support wine influencers.
Many young people also often make purchase decisions based on the recommendations of social media influencers. Addictions France, an organization that works against the harms of alcohol, demands action from MPs so that advertising by social media influencers can be regulated.
One in five French people drink too much
Dropless January (in French “Défi de janvier“, the January challenge) project reminds us that even though consumption is decreasing, alcohol is still the main cause of the premature death of around 41,000 French people. According to statistics, only tobacco is more harmful: around 66,000 premature deaths per year.
In the case of young people, those interested in public health are concerned about so-called binge-drinking, getting drunk quickly, i.e. drinking in Finnish. In France, it is traditional to drink a little all the time, not a lot at once.
France has at least considered itself to be the country that is the most adapted to the use of alcohol in the world, and where drinking is generally controlled. Maybe that’s why you can’t get excited about not drinking for one month, even if a break is healthy for everyone.
Relative to the population, more French people succumb to alcohol-related diseases than Finns, for example per capita consumption is at the same level. There would be a reason for campaigning.
In any case, the stereotypical image of a French beret drinking red wine with Patong and camembert is already history.