REPORTING. “Dry January” or not, the alcohol-free sector is on the rise

Like “Dry January” which is becoming more popular in France, the alcohol-free trend seems to be confirmed among specialized wine merchants.

It’s a wine merchant like no other. The first in France to only sell alcohol-free products. At the beginning of January, the small “Paon qui boit” store, located in the north of Paris, is always full. “Dry January” obliges, but not only that. There is Murielle: “I’m getting married so I have to stay sober all evening and a good part of the year tooshe confides. This will be my own vintage: sparkling white and red. But maybe there will be guests who won’t drink alcohol.”

The range of non-alcoholic drinks is growing a lot, analyzes Augustin Laborde, the founder of the Paon qui boit cave. “In a year and a half of existence, we have seen this trend develop and above all be confirmed very concretely, relates the wine merchant. When we opened, there were around 250 references, now there are more than 500.” This is a sign, for Augustin Laborde, that producers are getting started. “There are really lots of proposals coming in that didn’t exist even a year ago”, he adds. The same on the customer side, if they are aware that “Dry January” is an accelerator for January, “there is still a basic trend”he remarks.

The alcohol-free market is growing quickly. Maison Chavin has made a specialty of premium alcohol-free wine. Today, alcohol-free products represent half of its turnover, still increasing according to Mathilde Boulachin, the president of the house. “We have just ended the year with a 23% surge for non-alcoholic products, she explains. On the other hand, if we look at the growth in wine, we see that wine is suffering, like what is happening internationally. So for us, growth comes from alcohol-free products.” she confirms.

A bigger market in Germany and England

The fact remains that alcohol-free is still a niche: 1 to 2% of the market, according to the CGA institute, a consumer specialist. “Today, it is a small market in France, both in terms of consumer penetration and in terms of consumption in absolute value, it is definitely a market which has progressed a lot in recent years, particularly since Covid”according to Julien Veyron, director of customer solutions. “In any case, we see that consumers’ appetite for this concern for health and alcohol moderation is growing”he adds.

Nevertheless, “What we see in the short term is that inflation has slowed down the trend. These are products that are sometimes quite valued without saying that they are expensive”, he tempers. In short, a growing market but still in its infancy in France, and in any case clearly lower than in Germany or England where alcohol-free products are four times more developed.