SWC Bonfire
09-27-2005, 09:54 AM
I find this amazing. I'm sure the older French are really pissed off about this - perhaps due in a small part to the increased numbers of muslims, but probably more widespread culturally than that.
The best people that I have met from and in France are the farmers; but the EU evidently is finding out that market protections don't work if there isn't demand for your product.
Wine-Drinkers Down by a Million in France
PARIS (AP) - French people are drinking less wine, with 1 million fewer wine drinkers today than five years ago, according to a new study published Friday.
Some 32 million French people, or just over half the population, still say they drink wine, according to a study from the National Interprofessional Office of Wine. In 2000, the figure was 33 million.
The study concludes that almost all regular wine drinkers are over age 35, and that young people today drink less than their parents.
As the French wine industry struggles to keep up in a competitive international market, the average wine consumption in France has fallen by more than half in the past 40 years - from 160 liters (42 gallons) annually per inhabitant in 1965, to less than 70 liters (18 gallons) per inhabitant in 2005, the study said.
Occasional drinking has overtaken regular wine consumption, the study showed. In 1980, around two-thirds of French people said they drank wine every day - while only one third in 2005 say they drink wine daily.
09/16/05 11:02
Copyright The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained In this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
The best people that I have met from and in France are the farmers; but the EU evidently is finding out that market protections don't work if there isn't demand for your product.
Wine-Drinkers Down by a Million in France
PARIS (AP) - French people are drinking less wine, with 1 million fewer wine drinkers today than five years ago, according to a new study published Friday.
Some 32 million French people, or just over half the population, still say they drink wine, according to a study from the National Interprofessional Office of Wine. In 2000, the figure was 33 million.
The study concludes that almost all regular wine drinkers are over age 35, and that young people today drink less than their parents.
As the French wine industry struggles to keep up in a competitive international market, the average wine consumption in France has fallen by more than half in the past 40 years - from 160 liters (42 gallons) annually per inhabitant in 1965, to less than 70 liters (18 gallons) per inhabitant in 2005, the study said.
Occasional drinking has overtaken regular wine consumption, the study showed. In 1980, around two-thirds of French people said they drank wine every day - while only one third in 2005 say they drink wine daily.
09/16/05 11:02
Copyright The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained In this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.