With white, red goes out the window
Buoyed by French consumers' new expectations for fresh, light wines, white wines are experiencing an unprecedented craze. By 2023, white wines will have overtaken reds in terms of volume, and are reshaping part of the French winegrowing landscape.
Gone are the days when powerful, full-bodied, tannic red wines were the order of the day in restaurants and bistros. Laure, a restaurateur in Levallois-Perret [Hauts-de-Seine], has been hearing a different tone of voice over the past few years. Her customers, who tend to be young, now want fresh, light wines. It has to be said that with global warming, alcohol levels have soared in some vineyards. In the past, people would chase after it: " It had to be colorful, it had to have substance," recalls Ewen Le Moigne of Cave des Papilles in Paris.
Today, almost everyone is on the hunt for alcohol content: " Thanks to earlier harvests, slower fermentation and gentler vinification, winemakers are able to extract less substance, tannin and color," continues the wine merchant. This is a response to new consumer expectations, particularly among the younger generations, who have a more relaxed relationship with wine: " They no longer have the benefit of their family's culinary heritage. They want to drink light wines, at a variety of moments of consumption - as an aperitif, on a café terrace - and no longer just at the table and with the family to accompany red meat ", observes Marie Mascré, director of the Sowine agency. A sign of the times, the main outlet for the Centre-Loire wine interprofession (sancerre, menetou-salon, pouilly-fumé, quincy...) is cafés-restaurants and wine shops (38%).
White wines attract
It's clear that white wines have benefited greatly from these new aspirations, winning over more and more consumers and, against a backdrop of a general decline in wine consumption, doing very well indeed. In 2023, white wine production in France exceeded that of reds for the first time: 13.5 million hectolitres (40% of total production) versus 12.8 million (39%). Smoothed over five years, between 2018 and 2022, FranceAgriMer's figures are even more spectacular: +17% for whites; -14% for reds; -5% for rosés. And there's more to come. In 2024, white wine is by far " the color that has driven the category ", confirms Marie Mascré. In fact, 90% of French people say they drink white wine most frequently (versus 82% for red wine)." White wines provide a sensation of lightness and freshness that is highly prized by today's wine lovers ," notes Corinne Richard, President of the Inter Caves network. " They're also easier to access. You take fewer risks than with a red," notes one restaurateur. And the codes of wine tasting have changed.
