The big boom in non-alcoholic drinks in Béziers: when the degrees drop, sales take off

François Pugibet fait la part belle aux vins sans alcool, dans son Domaine de la Colombette. Midi Libre – SYLVIE CAMBON

Wine is regaining its status as the preferred drink (for 60% of French people), beating beer to the post, according to a fascinating study by the Sowine/Dynata institute in 2024. Interest in alcohol-free (or very low-alcohol) drinks is said to be stagnating, but they continue to attract young people and social drinkers who are concerned about their health. With its 246,000 hectares, the Languedoc-Roussillon vineyard, the largest in France, is taking the lion's share, becoming the preferred terroir for no-low. In the Béziers region, La Colombette, Le Petit Béret and Pierre Chavin are increasing their turnover by reducing the alcohol content.

When you walk down a aisle in a supermarket or at a wine shop, you can no longer escape the “no-low” that is becoming less and less confidential.
From champagne for aperitifs to digestifs, no-low, for no alcohol and low alcohol, is this underlying trend that marks a deep disaffection for our bibines, after-dinner drinks and other traditional jajas!

And has been paving his way in “old-fashioned” viticulture for about ten years, not without encountering a few pitfalls.

Alcohol, still synonymous with virility

Based on his La Colombette estate in Béziers, winemaker François Pugibet, a pioneer in France in dealcoholization by “reverse osmosis” in 2005, a process aimed at separating alcohol from other residues using membranes, still remembers it. “The French relationship with alcohol is still linked to virility”, says the creator of Plume, a light wine with 9 degrees, and very opposed to the leitmotif “before it was better”.

Beer is the most widely consumed non-alcoholic beverage, far ahead of wine. SOWINE

Pioneers of no-low

Beers, spirits, wines and even liqueurs with a very low alcohol content have been flourishing for four or five years. “In the 2000s, we were the first to worry about the increase in alcohol content through chaptalization in wines, which were excessively powerful, up to 14° and more. We are the pioneers of alcohol-free wines, and we did not have unanimous support! We had to fight, with the administration and the winegrowers”,breathes François Pugibet, head of the family estate for 4 generations. “We even came close to prison because we were accused of being too innovative.”

The entire range has gone below 12 degrees

Joined in 1997 by his son Vincent, with an engineering degree in his pocket, he invested in the creation of new resistant German and Italian grape varieties, which allow viticulture without pesticides. Their success, and their innovation in alcohol-free, was to preserve the taste of wine without switching to grape juice or infusion. “Reducing the alcohol content increases the taste qualities, he assures. The entire La Colombette range has also gone below 12 degrees”.

1 out of 3 alcohol-free sales

The bubbly octogenarian is interested in everything, from history to genetics, and has a hard time dealing with the suspicions that weigh on the future of the terroirs. “Viticulture should not be limited to the perpetuation of old methods”, asserts this fervent campaigner for grape varieties resistant to vine diseases, resulting from multiple crosses. “Inbreeding (cuttings, grafting, editor's note) always requires more chemistry to prevent the vines from degenerating”.

For him, a clean wine, “is not an organic wine that uses copper sulfate or sulfur from refineries to fight mildew or powdery mildew”. So if the vine “cannot escape the creation of new varieties of grape varieties, ad infinitum”, Low- or no-alcohol wines, made from resistant grape varieties, are now essential for him, with high added value. “And then there's the crisis!”

Disappearance of daily consumption

The fall in wine consumption (70% in 60 years), the result of the disappearance of daily consumption, has not stopped. So, at La Colombette, reinventing itself is not anecdotal: “In 2005, we sold 3,000 bottles of our light Plume range at 9°. Today, it's more than a million per year. Alcohol-free wine, sparkling or not like Born to be free, is one in three sales, 80% of which are international.”

200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000

A new, more powerful distillation unit

And since the main reason that slows down the consumption of wine lies in its alcohol content, “we have invested in a distillation unit, a prototype, to the tune of €500,000, because orders are undoubtedly increasing”.

The 270 hectares of vines produce 25,000 hectoliters per year. The story is far from over for the Pugibet family. “We can create as many grape varieties as we want, it's very optimistic! It scares nostalgic people. We want old wine, but wine is good between 5 and 10 years, after that it's nostalgia for the past!”

The future is to be built. The supervisory administrations still have to hear it. “The delay is enormous. On our estate, we have more than 40 resistant grape varieties that we treat twice a year. Before, it was up to 14 times!”

In 2024, 28% of French people have consumed no-low drinks such as beers, cocktails or wines. Between climatic hazards and a drop in consumption, the sector must become more agile and conquer new trends. And for François Pugibet, it is even “wonderful”.

 

A ray of advance for the wine merchant who believed in no-low

Established for three years at 1 603 avenue de la Pompignane in Montpellier, wine merchant Geoffrey Garcia has a nose for it, not only when it comes to wine selection. "We launched into alcohol-free, it was the beginning. Last year, we made 15% of our turnover in January, for Dry January and no-low sales now represent between 15 and 20% of our turnover for the year". At Mon caviste a un grain, another clientele has become loyal, thanks to the creation of a unique section of its kind, entirely dedicated to alcohol-free. “We combine tradition, innovation and a modern vision of the wine merchant profession. We also respond to a growing demand by offering sophisticated alternatives, he defends. Our clientele ranges from pregnant women, to athletes, to those with religious beliefs, to the large part made up of “flexi-drinkers”, people who are quite skeptical, to be convinced but curious.” From aperitifs to digestifs, wines, beers, rums, gins, whiskies, liqueurs and bubbles are available to demanding drinkers, “for their health, or because they have to drive”!”. The most difficult bottles to defend are wines, “we tend to compare. Beers and sparkling wines work very well. As for spirits, you have to accompany people, because they are only consumed with an adjuvant that acts as a flavor enhancer. The wine merchant gets his supplies from Pure Drink, a local wholesaler specializing in 100% alcohol-free, an alternative that is becoming increasingly popular. But be careful, “children are excluded, as with the chocolate cigarettes that have disappeared, these drinks are not intended for them!”.

 

The Chavin house wants to become a world leader

The success story of the no-low of the Pierre Chavin wine merchant house in Béziers began in 2010, thanks to the tenacity of Mathilde Boulachin, its founder. “I was pregnant and I felt that I was going to be very bored with a slice of sparkling water as an aperitif. The idea came to me to offer a quality alcohol-free alternative to all those who can no longer drink alcohol, or who do not drink it." As a specialist in innovation in the world of wine, a trend creator, "we are interested in what consumers are looking for, we try to understand the trend". 15 years ago, the alcohol-free offer did not exist in wine. A niche is opening up, which is expanding, combined with changes in behavior, the decline in wine consumption and this form of “hybridization” that is flexi-drinking, i.e. drinking from time to time but not systematically, which has become more pronounced in the post-Covid period. “The arrival of Dry January, or “alcohol-free January” strategically supports its initial, somewhat fragile thesis, since for Mathilde Boulachin, a sixth edition full of promise is already shaping up to be. “We will rise to the challenge!” she assures.
The Pierre Chavin brand is a pure invention intended to protect it from sexist attacks, which were very present at the beginning. “I hid behind a masculine name, but today it is well tolerated. It was a bit risky and audacious in a very wine-growing region. People thought I was crazy,” smiles the native of Champagne.
Others have joined in, like Le Petit Béret in Puisserguier, which has been working from the must and without fermentation since 2015. “We de-sugar, we work on the blend, we filter and we bottle. We are not going backwards like we did with dealcoholization,” explains Betty Carme, the COO (chief operating officer). “We are not winegrowers, but we work with them, which allows them to develop a turnover in the middle of a crisis.” The Petit Béret is on the table of Petit Pierre in Béziers, at Fouquet's, at the Palais Royal or on the menu of the three-star Gilles Goujon in a non-alcoholic food and wine pairing.
At Maison Chavin, everything starts with the wine. “Two oenologists work on the selections. Dealcoholization is done in the Bordeaux region where units exist, by vacuum distillation, very respectful of the aromas to keep the vinous profile, and at low temperature. We bring complexity such as oaking, and our formulations.”
With its brands such as Pierre Zéro, Opia, Florentina or Le Petit Étoilé, the figures speak for themselves. Chavin is present in 65 countries and has just passed the 15 million euro turnover mark, “93% are made internationally, the growth percentage is 40%”. If no-low consumption is only in its infancy, Mathilde Boulachin perceives a « underlying trend", beyond a simple fashion phenomenon. "Competition is coming, emphasizes Betty Carme. We have to share the cake! » « But very beautiful things are coming," they promise.

I subscribe to read the rest