the white wine market | France

1.1 Definition and scope of study

The wine is an alcoholic drink obtained by the fermentation of grapes, fruit of the vines. The wine consumed can be red, white or rosé in France and be flat or sparkling. This study in particular will deal with the market for white wine in France, which is made from the alcoholic fermentation of grapes with uncoloured pulp and white or black skins.

Wine has a very strong cultural importance in France, as evidenced by the symbols associated with wine by the French: in a survey in 2017, 92% of French people associated wine with tradition, 91% with conviviality and 87% with sharing. This is also why people's friends and family influence the purchasing decision in this sector, as the recommendations of friends and family are the primary purchasing criteria for this market in France. It is therefore not surprising that France is the second largest consumer of wine in the world (3.5 billion bottles consumed in 2019) behind the United States. France is also the second largest producer of wine by volume (4.2 billion litres of wine produced) behind Italy. [ InterVin ]

White wine is historically the third most consumed wine colour in France, behind red and rosé. However, there is a growing trend for red wine consumption to decline in favour of other colours. Indeed, if in 1990, 80% of the wine drunk in France was red, in 2018 the reality was already quite different. When we look at the sales of wine in this year of PDO (almost half of the volumes sold) and SIG (29% of sales in volume) we can see the importance of the white wine on the national market . Over this period, 56% of PDO sales and 47% of GIS sales were red wine (by volume). According to France AgriMer, this has enabled white wine to take over new market shares, representing 19% of PDO sales in volume (22% in value) and 25% of SIG wine sales in volume (27% in value).