My own gut feeling is that this is part of the on-going globalisation of
alcoholic drinks, something which has been happening since the early modern
period (in Europe, at least): a move away from traditionally 'national' drinks
to supposedly 'foreign' ones, e.g. the shift in the Netherlands in the 17-18th
centuries from beer drinking to wine and brandy. Thus the traditional divide
between northern beer-drinking and southern wine-drinking Europe became less and
less evident, and I would imagine that what is now happening in
France is a continuance of that trend; an erosion of what is considered
'traditional' drink and a greater democratisation of choice in drink. It would
be interesting comparing figures for beer and wine drinking in northern and
southern European countries.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, September 16, 2005 5:23
PM
Subject: fewer wine-drinkers in
France
Noticed an AP story in today's New York Times re the decline of
wine-drinking in France: almost all the French who drink wine regularly
are
over 35, just over half the French population drink wine, and the
number of
French wine drinkers has dropped by a million over the last five
years. May I ask ADHS why? Comparative data for other
countries? I think
that in the USA wine drinking is more common now
than a generation ago, and
beer-drinking and whiskey-drinking are what are
in decline.