Decanter World Wine AwardsFrench government bans outside drinking
- Wednesday 1 April 2009
The Department of Health will announce today that drinking any alcohol in any public place – including pavement cafes – will become illegal from 31 July 2009.
The measure – which the government says is necessary to ‘combat a growing culture of excessive drinking’ – comes hot on the heels of its announcement in February that even one drink could contribute to mouth and throat cancers.
From 31 July consumption of alcohol will only be allowed inside. All restaurants, bars and cafes with outside areas, even if their terraces are surrounded by full awnings, will come under the act.
‘This is not only the next step in a sustained campaign against the wine community,’ a spokesman for the group Vin et Societe said, ‘it is an attack against the very heart of France.’
The French government has been battling with the wine community for several years – mainly over the draconian Evin Law which bans promotion of wine – and over health.
In 2004 it brought out a series of hard-hitting advertisements suggesting every drink had a permanent effect on the body, with wine lumped in with all other alcohols.
That prompted the Academie du Vin de France, whose members include some of the most distinguished names in French wine including Domaine de la Romanée-Conti's Aubert de Villaine and Jean-Pierre Perrin of Domaine de Beaucastel, to call a debate to ask, 'Is France losing its wine culture?'
A spokesman for the Academie, responding to this latest move, said, ‘The answer to that question now is, our wine culture is in its death throes. We are entering the dark ages once more.’
Steven Spurrier, Decanter’s consultant editor, said, ‘At this rate, the next thing this government will ban is the wearing of lipstick and tights.’
Have your say!
Joel Watson
May 10 21:32
When I was attending Catholic grammar school in Herblai not far from Paris in 1954, I had only one thing to drink for lunch and that was a half a glass of Algerian wine and water. Bottle water was too expensive to use at lunch so we were severed Algerian wine or what ever the church could afford. At age six I was delighted to enjoy the beverage with my sandwich from home. You see that after lunch I had to attend the all girls side of the school to learn French grammar. I sat for an hour trying to learn with some 40 girls my age giggling and teasing me. So the wine was just what I needed to get through those tough times. I have always had a deep respect for the men and women of the French wine business and urge them on to fight the good fight with corks flying everywhere.
The quote: “ The hands are heavy for those who wear a crown “ or something of that nature. It is not just the French Ministry of Health that has gone nutty, it is all the liberal bureaucrats in all countries that think they know best for their fellow citizen. We have the same fools in America and we as the public need to challenge these people and put them in their place as bureaucrats. They are there to serve us and not control our lives in every degree.
Thank you very much!