2024-08-02 03:45:03
Will French cars soon run on red wine? The question is not as trivial as it seems at first glance. The idea of converting wine into bioethanol is, in fact, being studied by the Confederation of Wine Cooperatives of France. Even if no one knows whether it will be successful, it describes, in any case, a departure from the path of the French wine industry, which has faced a crisis of production and the search to get rid of its surpluses.
“In the system, we have between 4 million and 5 million hectoliters in addition, distributed mainly in the regions that produce the largest red wine, from Bordeaux to Languedoc, through the Rhône valley”underlines Jérôme Despey, winegrower in Saint-Géniès-des-Mourgues, in Hérault, and first vice president of the National Federation of Farmers’ Unions.
To explain this flood of wines, some point to the lack of wine in France. The phenomenon is not new. The decline began in the early 1970s. Since then, the volumes of trellis fermented juice consumed by France have almost halved, going from 46 million to 24 million hectares in 2023, according to data from the National Council of intermediate-professional. of wines with designation of origin and regional indication (CNIV).
The pace of decline was even faster after 2010, with an average decline of 1.8% per year. Even faster on supermarket shelves, where the reduction reaches 3% per year. In distribution, where one bottle is sold in two, red wines especially suffer from this decline. Their sales increased from 5.1 million to 3.5 million hectoliters between 2017 and 2023, although those of rosés decreased slightly, at 3 million hectoliters, and those of whites at 1.8 million.
Mojitos and spritzes
It is true that the eating habits of the French have completely changed. The country that showcases its gastronomy is also the one where the range of fast food brands is the widest. Bistros with their traditional steak-fries-salad and a quarter of red wine are offered on the way to pizzerias and burger, kebab or fried chicken chains. The French eat more and more often in an informal and traditional way, family meals, often accompanied by opening a bottle of wine, have become more common.
« Covid has created a rupture. The watch word is movement. Three or four years later, everyone has forgotten. We do not see what is happening to us. Wine is presented as a symbol of French gastronomy, but it still has to take time to sit. However, there is general fun, you have to go quickly, take your sandwich and your cup in hand », Explained Joël Boueilh, president of Vignerons coopacteurs de France.
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