France: Wine retakes top spot among consumer preferences from beer

After two years of success when beer overcame wine in the French people’s preferences, wine has retaken the top spot, Sowine/Dynata data shows.

60% of the population say they prefer wine. 58% prefer beer. Compared to 2023, wine gained 5% and beer 2%, whereas it was gaining annually more than 5% among consumers aged 36-49. However, in 2024 wine has returned to leadership as 56% of polled women said they preferred wine and 72% of men chose beer.

Champagne is still ranked third (at 39%), followed by cocktails (31%), cider (22%) and spirits (21%).

Within the beer category, lagers remain the most popular with 96% of the market (minus 1% versus last year), followed by white beers (79%, down 4%), amber beers (68%, down 6%), dark beers (66%, down 6%), IPAs (40%, down 6%), and sour beers (23%, down 9% from 2023).

French people still prefer locally produced brands (64%) and mass production beer (46%). Imported beer dropped by 7% from 2023, to 44%, and craft beer saw the same percentage decline to 39%.

Among non-alcoholic drinks, beer’s share is stable at 28%.

Percentage of the population who said they don’t consume alcohol remains unchanged at 14% (minus 1% versus 2023).

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