‘You can’t have enjoyable when you don’t drink alcohol in France’: Paris wine present tackles a teetotal period

“People are convinced that you can’t have fun if you don’t drink alcohol in France,” she says.

Which is without doubt one of the causes that Bobin trekked as much as Paris this week, to take a look at the rising array of zero- and low-alcohol drinks — predominantly purple, white, rosé and glowing wines from round Europe, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Those merchandise rubbed shoulders with established producers and distillers of all issues alcoholic at a serious worldwide commerce present for the wine and spirits industries.

With slogans championing “no alcohol, no regrets, no consequences” and inspiring customers to “drink different,” producers of so-called no/low drinks are aiming to revenue from changing tastes and habits, particularly these of younger adults extra aware of alcohol’s harms.

In the United States, fewer Americans are reporting that they drink alcohol. In different main worldwide markets, a rising no/low business is chipping away at booze’s hegemony.

France’s authorities is providing to pay wine-makers who agree to tear up their vineyards, to scale back the output of vintages not in demand. Dutch drinks big Heineken this week stated it can reduce as much as 6,000 jobs from its international workforce by 2028, after its beer gross sales fell final yr. But the agency’s portfolio of no/low drinks noticed double-digit development in 18 of its markets.

Bobin, who’s Muslim, stated zero-alcohol drinks may also help teetotalers and drinkers of alcohol spend time collectively. She tasted a wide range of non-alcoholic grownup drinks on the Wine Paris present, in search of some to promote at her delicatessen store in France’s wine-making Burgundy area.

“It allows us to share a moment with people even without drinking alcohol. So they can drink if they want, but we can still share a drink, toast with them,” she stated. “It offers an alternative for everyone and brings people together. It’s more of a product for inclusion, I think, for people who don’t drink alcohol, and that’s great.”

Alcohol consumption in France has plummeted within the final half-century, with many adults dropping the behavior of wine with most meals and younger individuals, particularly, typically consuming much less and in another way than their mother and father.

Katja Bernegger, who produces alcohol-free wines in Austria, stated no/low consuming isn’t a passing fad.

“People are more mindful of their body,” she stated. “If you drink today, you probably have a headache tomorrow, and they don’t want it because you need to function, you have kids, you have a job.”

Bernegger and her accomplice, a winemaker, began venturing into no-alcohol wines when she was pregnant. She stopped consuming however missed the flavors of wine.

“You are standing there with your orange juice or Coke. You are out of it. You have to explain why you don’t drink,” she stated.

“So you are simply having just half of the fun in life. And that’s the reason why we need some sophisticated non-alcoholic options.”

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AP journalist Catherine Gaschka in Paris contributed to this report.