In the spacious Paon qui boit boutique, in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, hundreds of bottles of all shapes and colors rest side by side on the shelves. As in a classic wine cellar, labels have been carefully placed on the shelves to guide the visitor between the spritzes, gins, sparkling wines or rums that fill the room. And as in a classic wine cellar, the owner of the place describes with passion the taste of his products, the techniques used to produce them, and the professional history of the artisans who supply them. But the comparison stops there. Here, all of the drinks offered are alcohol-free – that is to say, none has an alcohol content greater than 1.2 degrees, according to current regulations. Opened in April 2022, Augustin Laborde’s boutique specializes in this type of drink, going from around 200 references a year and a half ago to more than 450 today. “The offer has exploded and is diversifying, whether via large groups or small producers who are trying the alcohol-free experience. And, at the same time, more and more customers are interested in this type of products”, explains the founder, who himself stopped drinking alcohol during confinement.
Behind his counter, he unsurprisingly welcomes pregnant women, sick people, customers who have chosen not (or no longer) to drink alcohol, athletes, but also a large number of “flexi-drinkers”. “Customers who want to moderate or control their consumption, without ending up with a glass of still water or soda in their hand,” defines the owner. No clientele was left behind. Each bottle is marked with stickers according to its properties: drinks certified vegan, halal, gluten-free, low in sugar, with very low alcohol content, even 0%… For prices similar to products with alcohol, oscillating between 3 and 4 euros for a beer, 8 and 30 euros for a bottle of wine, and around thirty euros on average for spirits. “It is not the presence of alcohol that determines the price of a bottle, but also the technique and the machines used, the marketing, the raw materials,” he explains.
In France and internationally, the alcohol-free market is experiencing exponential growth. According to a study conducted by the specialized British institute IWSR, the global market increased by 9% in volume in 2022, now estimated at 10 billion euros. France is the country with the largest number of new consumers of non-alcoholic drinks, with an increase of 25% over the past year. A recent study conducted by CGA for NielsenIQ also indicates that more than half of French consumers (52%) plan to significantly or slightly reduce their alcohol consumption over the next twelve months, while 16% have already started to moderate it. No less than 34% of those surveyed finally say they consume non-alcoholic or low-alcohol beer when they go out, and 41% now favor non-alcoholic cocktails.
“Exponential growth”
To meet this new demand, brands have adapted. Pernod Ricard, one of the French giants in the sector, for example bought, in 2021, the non-alcoholic gin brand Ceder’s, or launched, last year, Suze Tonic Zéro in mass distribution. From a single non-alcoholic product (the Pacific anise drink, created in 1982), the brand has grown to 18 references since 2015. “Of all spirits categories, non-alcoholic has been the most dynamic in the last five years, with an average change of 115% between 2017 and 2022 at the global level. In France, growth was 17% over last year alone”, underlines Solène Marchand, director of the alcohol-free category at Pernod, to L’Express. Ricard. Same success for the non-alcoholic beer market, which has been growing, according to Philippe Collinet, communications director of Kronenbourg, “5 to 7 times faster than the classic beer market” since the mid-2010s, to the point of today represent “5 to 6% of the overall beer market in France”. Since the creation of Tourtel Twist, at the end of 2015, a drink made from 0% beer and fruit juice, Kronenbourg “has launched three or four 0% beers each year, for a portfolio of non-alcoholic beers from the brewery which now reaches 12 % of the total”, indicates Philippe Collinet.
The alcohol-free wine market is also in “constant growth”, according to Mathilde Boulachin, founder of the Chavin house, created in 2010 and which has been offering dealcoholized wine for thirteen years. We started with 5,000 euros in our pocket and, today, our turnover exceeds 12 million euros, 50% of which comes from non-alcoholic products,” she explains. Same observation for Camille Huarté- Lesaint, brand director of Cordier by InVivo, which has been producing alcohol-free wine for thirty years via the Bonne Nouvelle range. “In 2022, we sold 3 million bottles. It’s been exponential for several years,” she emphasizes. But, be careful, the two specialists specify that they do not offer their customers a simple “improved grape juice.” “We use a vacuum distillation technique. which allows the alcohol of an already existing wine to evaporate, and thus retain all the aromas”, explains Mathilde Boulachin, whose bottles can now be found on the shelves of the Grande Epicerie or on the tables of the luxurious Crillon hotel.
“Other producers also use reverse osmosis technology, which means that the alcohol is removed via a filtration system,” adds Hortense Brière, business and development director of the company B & S Tech, which has been supporting producers since 2019 in the launch of alcohol-free products. Despite expensive equipment – the price of distillation or vacuum evaporation machines, for example, reaches one million euros – its customer base has doubled in three years. “The unblocking is happening at all levels: the consumer demands quality products, the giants of the sector and small producers have the technologies to respond, alcohol-free is becoming part of the customs. We are at the very beginning of a market that can only grow,” she believes.
Palaces and great restaurants
Everywhere, even in great Parisian restaurants, alcohol-free products are on the rise. Sommelier for thirteen years, Benoît d’Onofrio, who now presents himself as “sobrelier”, describes the work carried out to accompany the tasting menus of different restaurants with alternatives to alcohol. “It is a question of repositioning itself by offering alcohol-free products, but with the same intention of accompanying the dish, with the same intensity, the same complexity,” he explains. The clientele is there: at Perchoir Ménilmontant, a Parisian establishment where Benoît d’Onofrio proposed his first creations and practiced for several months, he claims to have sold, on certain evenings, “more entirely 0 degree agreements than hybrid agreements”. “People are very receptive, very curious, and when the alcohol-free opportunity presents itself, they seize it much more easily than you might think,” he comments.
“The stigmatization of non-drinkers tends to become rarer”
In a country where glasses of wine were served to children in school canteens until 1956, and in which a French person consumed on average nearly 200 liters of alcohol per year in 1960, according to INSEE, this appetite for alcohol-free products may seem surprising. “But alcohol consumption has only decreased in Western countries over the decades,” notes Christophe Moreau, sociologist and co-author of the work. Young people facing alcohol (Erès, 2019). According to INSEE, a French person consumed on average 80 liters of alcohol in 2018 – almost twice less than sixty years previously. “This is explained firstly by a collective awareness of the health problems linked to overconsumption of alcohol, as well as by a set of very assertive public health policies, having for the most part achieved their objectives”, recalls the researcher .
The habit of a glass of wine at lunch, or a glass of beer in the middle of the day, tends to be lost in a world of work which now focuses on productivity. “Consumption is more reserved for evenings, if possible at the end of the week or during festive times,” explains Ludovic Gaussot, lecturer in sociology at the University of Poitiers and author of Moderation and sobriety. Studies on the social uses of alcohol (L’Harmattan, 2004): “The stigmatization of non-drinkers which existed just a few years ago is tending to become rarer. The demand for alcohol-free products is growing, almost becoming a trend. Brands are interested in it, “supply is greater, the market is opening.” A dynamic that needs to be nuanced, the researchers nevertheless point out. In June 2023, a study by Public Health France indicated that more than 1 in 5 metropolitan French adults (i.e. 22%) exceeded the recommended alcohol consumption limits.