1. Changes in consumption patterns
In recent years, the wine industry in France has seen important
changes in its pattern of consumption. In 1999 people drank about 61 litres of
wine per year per capita while in 2009 wine consumption was around 46 litres
(France Agrimer stats 2010). In 1980 the level of regular consumers (50.7 %)
was higher than for casual consumers (30.1%). Trends have changed and in 2005,
the number of casual consumers had increased (41.3 % vs. 20.7 % of regular
consumers). The number of non-consumers has also increased recently, reaching
38 % in 2005. It is important to notice that at the same time the level of
quality wines drunk (AOP wines, previously AOC) remained constant as the wine
consumption of table wine (lower quality) decreased significantly. People drink
less but better: according to France Agrimer's statistics, the level of expense
per household has increased between 2005 and 2009 (122 € to 131
€).
As in many countries, there is in France willingness for people
to become knowledgeable. In parallel with this thirst for knowledge people are
eating out more and more. The proportion of people dining in restaurants is
much higher than few years ago (source INSEE). Therefore restaurateurs have to
focus more on improving levels of service quality and creating customer
loyalty. Consumers drink less but want at the same time to be wine educated. In
France if the waiter recommends a wine, customers will listen (Tach 2008),
compared to other countries such as Australia or Brasil where people are less
inclined to take notice of waiters' suggestions. One possible reason is that
France has a much older food and wine culture.
In 1995 only 40% of French people knew what the acronym AOC meant
(appellation d'origine Contrôlée); in 2005 about 58% gave the
right answer when they were asked about the signification of this acronym
(source ONIVIN). The knowledge about the AOC has therefore evolved through the
last years and people are now more concerned about wine origin.
According to Marie Christine Tarby («Vin et
Société» chairman), in an interview with Vitisphère
(2011), French people speak about wine twice as much as football! According to
a previous poll (IPSOS), 71% of the French people thought that wine made
everyday life easier and more festive.
For Olivier Thienot (director of the «Ecole du Vin»),
wine knowledge is a way for people to express a good education and «savoir
vivre». As an example the young people segment is
now more interested in being wine educated and moreover is open
minded when speaking about wine from other countries.
As a result it is important for restaurateurs to assimilate
these changes; they need to be really interested in wine education in order to
be able to give the right advice to their customers and also sell the
appropriate wine.
Table 1. Source : «OIV. Situation of the world viticultural
sector in 2007»
2. Wine tasting and the expert role
Expert role
In her thesis «the Quest for Identities: consumption of wine
in France» Marion Demossier (2005) raises important questions about the
role of experts and professionals as mediators in contemporary French society.
Among them, one raised the role of the experts. «Do they play the role of
cultural mediators between producers and society or do the experts themselves
participate in the social construction of the product?» Nowadays the
population of mediators and advisors is increasingly important. Now the erudite
are the specialized journalists and
sommeliers. They play an important role and have responsibility
in educating people, leading them along the path of knowledge. Some of them are
sometimes so influential that they can change the wine grower's destiny,
bringing ambiguousness to the role experts have to play.
Sylvie Chollet and Dominique Valentin (2000) said in their thesis
that one of the major problems in the field of sensory analysis comes from the
necessity to train «experts» in order to describe and assess the
product. Therefore that reinforces the need for professionals who are able to
carry and transmit the knowledge for a topic which mainly relies on hedonism
and self-experience. The main objective is to draw descriptors to assess the
wine and therefore create a common semantic usable by everyone.
Therefore, experts have a great role to play in democratizing
wine. Wine democratization is probably one of the more important aspects of the
contemporary history of wine. To be a connoisseur is linked to social success
and thirst of knowledge has never been so important and helps to make the
difference between the wine lover and the drinker (most of the drinkers want to
become a wine lovers). Even if wine consumption is still a way to express a
social difference, however more and more people have access to wine knowledge.
Wine consumption now takes place not only at home but in clubs, wine fairs,
wine bars and tends to be more ostentatious. «For many observers, wine has
become a cultural product and therefore the meanings behind its consumption
have altered. For many others, despite these numerous changes, France remains a
country symbolically defined by its wines and where everybody knows about
wines» (Demoissier 2005).
Wine tasting
Wine tasting, it is not a natural art and has been inherited,
constructed according to traditions and periods. «Wine tasting standards
have evolved and have been perceived through the elite talks as a product
essentially linked to history» (Wolikow 2011). Wine social history is not
fossilized and developed from the Roman era to our contemporary history, the
wine making art being one day devolved to the clergy and later to the profane.
Besides of this evolution, the taste of the wine has also continually changed
through the last centuries due to a better knowledge of the wine making
processes and one could consider that wine is better now than it was few
centuries ago.
Wine assessment has developed through different stages. From
the Middle Ages to the end of the 18th century wine tasting focused
only on the colours and tactile sensations were not used to assess the wine. In
the same time wine and food pairing was already an important aspect of the
meal.
When the phylloxera occurred in the 19th century
there were strong debates about wine taste as at this time frauds were common
in the wine trade, consequently it was important to insist on the wine
characteristics and not only on the robe to determine a good wine from a bad
one. The wine quality concept became essential as a guarantee for the customer
of the product and people were aware about the origin of the wine.
At the end of the 19th century, aromas were used to
assess wine using analogies with the perfume industry (Wolikow 2011)
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