海角大神

Rows of evenly spaced grapevines stretch out in serried ranks across the French countryside, as winemakers Mathilde Ollivier and St茅phane Cottenceau step carefully into their rain-soaked vineyard. Ms. Ollivier鈥檚 family has made wine here for eight generations, using white grapes grown at the Domaine de la Grenaudi猫re in the Loire Valley.

So when Ms. Ollivier suggested to her father three years ago that she and business partner Mr. Cottenceau wanted to use these grapes to make nonalcoholic wine, it didn鈥檛 go over well.

鈥淭here was definitely a bit of apprehension,鈥� says Ms. Ollivier, whose winery has been producing Muscadet, a dry white wine, since 1723. 鈥淏ut I explained that this is the way the market is evolving and we needed to respond. When he tasted it, he felt reassured.鈥�

Now, the winery鈥檚 Ph茅nom猫ne brand is one of dozens of nonalcoholic wines pouring into a French beverage market in the throes of sea change. Wine, long a centerpiece of the epic, multicourse French meal, has begun to lose its appeal in recent years. The French are than they did 60 years ago, a trend that goes far beyond Dry January.

And it鈥檚 not just wine that the French are passing up. A growing number of French people, especially millennials and Generation Z youths, describe themselves as 鈥渇lexidrinkers鈥� or 鈥渟ober-curious,鈥� and sales of nonalcoholic wine, beer, and spirits have nearly doubled since 2019. In a country once associated with a carefree, casual attitude toward alcohol, the French are drinking less of it than ever 鈥� starting with their glass of Bordeaux.

鈥淵oung people aren鈥檛 drinking like their parents, many of whom see it as normal to sit down to dinner every night with a glass of wine,鈥� says Thomas Houdayer, spokesperson for Divin, a brand based in the Loire Valley that sells eight varieties of alcohol-free wine. 鈥淢aking nonalcoholic wine has created a new opportunity for our wine industry. It鈥檚 a revolution.鈥�

Colette Davidson

St茅phane Cottenceau and Mathilde Ollivier, winemakers at the Domaine de la Grenaudi猫re in the Loire Valley, launched their Ph茅nom猫ne brand of alcohol-free wine in 2023. They have since sold 30,000 bottles.

The growing appeal of 鈥渘olow鈥�

Part of that revolution are young people like Sarah Missaoui, a Parisian who says she first became sober-curious a few years ago after trying an alcohol-free gin at a friend鈥檚 house.

鈥淚 thought it was amazing,鈥� says Ms. Missaoui. 鈥淏ut it was really hard to find nonalcoholic versions of drinks in bars.鈥�

So, Ms. Missaoui quit her job as a journalist and in February 2023 opened D茅j脿 Bu, the first 100% alcohol-free bar in France.

A quarter of the people who come to D茅j脿 Bu end up purchasing a nonalcoholic bottle of something from the bar鈥檚 takeaway shop, says Ms. Missaoui. But most come for the novelty of the alcohol-free bar experience.

鈥淚鈥檓 definitely drinking less alcohol than before, but I still want to be able to go out and have fun,鈥� says Louise Francisco-Pottier, a young physical therapist, on a recent night at D茅j脿 Bu.

鈥淏efore, you had to justify to your friends why you weren鈥檛 drinking,鈥� says her friend Laura Diaz-Lacoste. 鈥淣ow, it鈥檚 socially acceptable.鈥�

Indeed, French young people, like their American counterparts, are alcohol than their parents. In 2022, France saw the highest proportionate growth of in Europe.

The 鈥渘olow鈥� alcohol trend has picked up speed since the COVID-19 pandemic, when young people became more socially isolated, and Gen Zers are taking the lead. Young people are focused on controlling their online image, and protecting their mental and physical health more than previous generations. Binge drinking, once seen as a rite of passage, is now viewed as anxiety-producing.

鈥淵oung people are looking for experiences and moments they can post on social media, not experimenting and risk-taking,鈥� says Elodie Gentina, a researcher on Generation Z at the I脡SEG School of Management. 鈥淏efore, young people couldn鈥檛 socialize without alcohol. Now they realize they absolutely can.鈥�

Colette Davidson

Sarah Missaoui opened D茅j脿 Bu, France's first 100% alcohol-free bar, in Paris in February 2023 after being frustrated about the lack of alcohol-free options in bars and restaurants.

A societal shift?

The French market is tuning in to these changes. High-end hotels like the Ritz in Paris have joined corner brasseries in offering mocktails alongside cocktails on their restaurant menus. In October 2024, French luxury goods powerhouse LVMH announced it was acquiring a 30% stake in alcohol-free sparkling wine brand French Bloom. And since 2022, France has offered Europe鈥檚 first trade fair dedicated exclusively to nolow drinks.

Still, the nolow industry remains niche 鈥� it represents around 3% of the French market. And although alcohol-free wine is seeing an uptick in sales, only a handful of French wineries have invested in the costly machines needed to remove the alcohol from wine without simply boiling it. Most outsource the process to neighboring countries such as Germany.

Changing the hearts and minds of the French, especially when it comes to wine, is a work in progress. But there, too, young people are leading the way.

鈥淭he tired stereotypes about the French are no longer accurate,鈥� says Jean-Marie Cardebat, a professor of economics and a wine industry specialist at the University of Bordeaux.

He says young people are already less likely to drink wine than their parents, finding it too high in alcohol and its multiple varieties and styles too intimidating. They鈥檙e also more open, he says, to innovative wine-based drinks such as seltzers 鈥� which mix wine with sparkling water to create a lower alcohol content 鈥� or alcohol-free wine.

鈥淚t鈥檚 like decaffeinated coffee,鈥� says Mr. Cardebat. 鈥淔rench people used to think it was disgusting, and now it has been completely normalized. It鈥檚 the same for wine.鈥�

Economic forces

For French winemakers, innovation is part of a conscious effort to save a struggling industry.

France is still the third-biggest exporter of wine in the world, behind Italy and Spain. But in 2020, and again in 2022, its growers sent 53 million gallons of their wine to be distilled into industrial alcohol, because they could not find a market for it, and the government offers compensation to farmers who uproot their vineyards.

Now is the time, say winegrowers, to adapt to an evolving French society: one more focused on healthy lifestyles, and less likely to linger over a heavy meal with glasses of wine or eau-de-vie than previous generations.

鈥淔rench people are choosing not to drink alcohol for X, Y, and Z reasons, and we can鈥檛 ignore it,鈥� says Mr. Cottenceau of the Domaine de la Grenaudi猫re. 鈥�Times are changing and we have to move with them.鈥�