Wineglass Isn’t Even Half-Full in France

Wine is less a beverage than an elixir of life in France, but the country’s vintners say they’re vexed by a problem that threatens their livelihood -- too much of a good thing and not enough people drinking it.

Pinched by overproduction, shrinking exports, advertising restrictions, an aggressive campaign against alcohol abuse and changing drinking habits, at least 6,000 growers and winemakers staged spirited demonstrations across the nation Wednesday to press the government for help.

“We are a sector in crisis,” said Jean-Michel Lemetayer, the head of France’s main farmer union, urging the state to bail out an industry awash in a sea of Chablis and Bordeaux.

Vintners wearing black armbands marched through Bordeaux, Avignon, Angers, Macon, Nantes, Tours and other cities in key winemaking regions to urge the Agriculture Ministry to help offset their financial losses.

Protesters from vineyards that make the celebrated Cote du Rhone reds carried a mock coffin with the inscription: “Here lies the last winemaker.”

France’s wine industry, which employs about 500,000 people, says exports through Aug. 31 dropped by more than 5% in volume and 9% in value. Experts say Bordeaux was particularly hard hit, with foreign sales of its signature reds down 25%.

Vintners say overproduction worldwide, and especially in France -- which harvested a bumper crop of grapes this year -- has glutted a market where French wines already face fierce competition from California, Chile and Australia.

In the past, when there was a surplus, producers of cheap table wine suffered the most. Now, makers of more prestigious “appellation” wines face bankruptcy if prices keep sinking, the Confederation of French Wine Cooperatives warned.

Agriculture Minister Dominique Bussereau has promised to meet with industry leaders this week. “The government understands these difficulties,” he said.

Aggressive campaigns against alcohol abuse and drunken driving also appear to have curbed consumption.

President Jacques Chirac, determined to reduce the 45,000 deaths a year blamed on alcohol, launched a crackdown in 2002. Officials say the campaign has led to a dramatic decline in road deaths, but it also has been blamed for a drop in wine sales.

“Thanks to the sword thrusts by the French state, wine is becoming synonymous with alcoholism,” the Wine Academy of France, a group representing top wine makers and growers, said in a recent statement.

The industry is lobbying the government to ease tough restrictions on alcohol advertising to stimulate sales and counter the growing popularity of beer and other beverages among younger drinkers.

The average Frenchman now drinks half as much wine as he did in 1961. Nonetheless, France is still No. 1 in the world in per capita wine consumption, with the average person putting away about 13 gallons a year.

“We just want to promote products that consumers already understand carry no risk if they drink with moderation,” Lemetayer, of the farm union, said.

He and others contend that wine -- which as a part of French culture has traditionally enjoyed special protections -- shouldn’t be lumped together with hard liquor like whiskey.

“Wine is a part of France’s cultural heritage. We shouldn’t demonize it,” said Karine Pech, 28, who works in publishing in Paris. “It’s not a strong drink, and consumed with moderation, it’s a part of a good meal.”

Since 1991, advertisements for alcoholic drinks in France have been restricted to factual information about a product, including its name, manufacturer, alcohol content and origin.

Last month, the state-funded National Assn. for the Prevention of Alcoholism and Addiction urged Chirac to oppose a proposal in parliament to let print or television ads also mention the color, smell and taste of wines.

But under pressure from vintners, lawmakers in the lower house from Chirac’s ruling center-right Union for a Popular Movement passed the looser restrictions. The Senate is expected to take up the measure in January.

Gregory Lozinski, a 22-year-old businessman, said he empathized with winemakers -- even though he only drank about a bottle a week.

“I can understand that the wine industry is anxious,” he said. “I’m a partisan of freedom: If you want to get drunk and die of alcohol abuse, that’s your problem.”

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Associated Press writer Mikael G. Holter in Paris contributed to this report.