5 preconceived ideas about the French and wine

Laurent Vuillaume | 5/3/22, 10:00 AM

To coincide with the release of the SoWine barometer on the French and wine, we take a look at some of the most common misconceptions about wine.

The French prefer wine: FALSE

The French are synonymous with baguette, camembert and red wine. The image has been beaten to a pulp, but one might legitimately expect wine to remain at the top of French people's favorite drinks list. Instead, the French prefer... beer. By a narrow margin, however, as 51% of French people surveyed said they preferred sparkling beverages, which have grown by a dazzling 12% over the past year. Still wines (without bubbles) and champagne are declining, but remain at a good level.

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The French consider themselves wine experts: FALSE

It's well known that France is the world's leading producer of fine wines, so every Frenchman is naturally, even genetically, a wine connoisseur, even an oenologist... Well, no, not at all: only 4% consider themselves experts. Not much for wine country. But the proportion is rising sharply, from just 1% in 2010...

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The French are buying less and less expensive wine: FALSE

The purchasing power of the French is declining, so we might expect to see a drop in the average price of a bottle of wine. Once again, it's a preconceived notion: the average price is rising. The graph doesn't show the drop in volumes, but the two are often concomitant. In conclusion, we're drinking less, but better.

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The French are no longer drinking Bordeaux wines - it's "Bordeaux bashing": FALSE

Is Bordeaux bashing really rampant? It's the summary, gratuitous criticism of all Bordeaux wines, from grand crus to entry-level Bordeaux: they're all too expensive, too woody, too industrial, too marquetry... in short, too much. If this trend is at work among certain wine merchants, sommeliers or journalists, the figures seem clear: in all consumer categories (expert, enlightened or neophyte), it's Bordeaux wines they prefer.

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Online purchases: the French don't buy much on the Internet: FALSE

Online wine purchases have been growing strongly in France over the last ten years. Today, more than 40% of buyers surf the web to choose their nectars. Of course, the proportion is highest among young people under 25: 55% of them have their wine delivered. If you still can't download the precious liquid, it's hard to see what's stopping this trend in online purchasing.

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