Focus on France Ian Sparks reports from Paris

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focus on... France

Ian Sparks reports from Paris on outrage in the French wine industry.

French winemakers could take to the streets in mass nationwide protests if their government goes ahead with a plan to put an ‘alcohol is dangerous’ health warning on all bottles by the end of this year, a leading wine union boss has warned. Health minister Agnes Buzyn said in February that the current slogan ‘drink in moderation’ was ‘no longer relevant’ and did not sufficiently alert wine lovers to the health risks of heavy drinking.

She said in a debate on French television that a new message could read, ‘Alcohol is dangerous for your health’, and added: “The wine industry wants to believe that wine is different from other alcoholic drinks. But in terms of public health, drinking wine is the same as drinking beer, vodka or whisky. There is zero difference.”

Her comments have triggered rage among winemakers across France, including from the chairman of Bordeaux’s CIVB wine board Bernard Farges, who branded her remarks ‘infantile and hygenist’.

And Frederic Rouanet, chairman of the militant Aude winemakers union, said in a statement to the French media: “If the government goes ahead with this ridiculous proposal to rope wine in with hard liquors like whisky and vodka, there will be thousands of winemakers marching through Paris demanding it stops demonising our national drink.

“Having a few glasses of delicious French wine with a meal is not dangerous, it is a national institution. In fact it is widely accepted by health experts that drinking in moderation is good for you.”

France’s powerful wine lobby, Vin et Societé – which represents producers and growers – said Buzyn had provoked a ‘scandal’ in the wine industry by going against the tide of the political direction of travel indicated by French President Emmanuel Macron, who it said had encouraged the lobby group to participate in the drawing up of a new prevention plan against excessive alcohol consumption.

Macron, a self-confessed wine lover, even commented on French radio last year, “a meal without wine is a bit of a sad meal,” a spokesman for the lobby noted.

Anger in the wine industry has been on the rise since last year after the health ministry launched a campaign against alcohol abuse, and classed wine at the same level as ‘legal and illicit psychoactive substances’.

As the debate raged on, the French Prime Minister tried to calm anger in the wine industry by telling producers: “We will take the problem head on and we will at the same time respect the particular place which wine has in French culture and agriculture, but we are not going to kid ourselves by saying there is no problem with alcohol in public health. Everyone knows that wine must be drunk in moderation.”

Bad harvets but good exports

Meanwhile, winemakers are also facing massive losses after a spate of poor harvests over the past three years. Last year’s harvest alone saw output drop by 23 per cent due to especially harsh springtime frosts which hit vineyards all the way from Bordeaux to Burgundy. Cotes du Rhone and Languedoc wines in southern France were spared the cold, but then suffered severe drought in the summer.

Georges Haushalter, Bordeaux trader and president of the Economic Commission of the Interprofessional Bordeaux Wine Council, told L’Express newspaper: “The situation in the wine industry is now critical, but it is not tragic.

“There is already a lot of anxiety locally. In Burgundy they have had three difficult years because of frost, and wine growers in Pommard are on the brink of bankruptcy. Nationwide, winemakers could lose out on about a billion euros this year.

“Luckily there are stocks to compensate for the shortfall so there is still plenty of wine in the shops, unlike the butter crisis. But if next year’s weather isn’t better, customers may begin to notice less choice and higher prices.”

He added: “Customers can help by spending more on their bottle of wine than they might usually do. Fine wines count for about three per cent of the wine produced but 20 per cent of the turnover. That means that if the fine wines sell particularly well the pressure on the volume market of our everyday wines will ease.”

But while wine production has been hit at home, exports of French wine and spirits rose to a new record in 2017 due to strong sales to the United States and China. Wines and spirits rank second in France for exports, behind aerospace and ahead of perfumes and cosmetics.

Antoine Leccia, president of the French Wine Exporter’s Federation (FEVS), said: “All French regions benefited from this export windfall, with sales of almost 13 billion euros, which is up 8.5 per cent on 2016. Wine sales also rose 6 per cent in volume, which was their first increase in five years, and this is thanks mainly to the United States and China. Long may they keep drinking our amazing wines.”

In the United States, sales rose 9.5 per cent and broke the 3 billion euros mark for the first time, boosted by cognac, which accounted for 40 percent of exports in value. In China, where growth of the upper-middle class is driving sales of luxury goods, shipments climbed 24.5 per cent, to 1.2 billion euros, mainly due to cognac and Bordeaux wines, the Federation revealed in a statement.

In Britain, France’s second biggest export market for wine and spirits, sales rose by 2.7 per cent to 1.33 billion euros, but Champagne sales to Britain fell by around five per cent, hurt by the euro’s rise against the pound after the Brexit vote, Mr Leccia said.

He added: “Perhaps our friends across the Channel do not currently feel they have very much to celebrate!” n