The French are third rate losers. I'd never purchase a bottle of French
wine.
"tdalton" > wrote in message
...
> November 15, 2003
> Wine Industry Urges Drinking and Driving
> By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
>
>
> PARIS (AP) -- France's wine industry wants drivers to know: It's OK to
> have a drink for the road. Or three. The $18 billion-a-year wine
> industry is fighting back against a government campaign to discourage
> drunken driving.
>
> It claims the government is scaring people away from ordering a glass
> when they go out and points to a 15 percent drop in wine sales at
> restaurants.
>
> ``People are so afraid of the police these days that they're not
> drinking any wine at all,'' Pascal Bobillier-Monnot, director of CNAOC
> national wine producers' association, said Friday.
>
> Wine makers have always promoted moderate drinking to comply with the
> country's blood-alcohol limit of .05. But they say the government is
> overreacting when it tells drivers that the safest way to stay out of
> trouble is not to drink at all.
>
> ``We believe the government has a duty of providing information which
> it has failed,'' said Pascal Rousseaux, director of Afivin, an
> umbrella group for wine producers, distributors and retailers.
>
> Diners should know they can enjoy ``two or three glasses'' with their
> meal and still be fit to drive, Rousseaux said.
>
> Since taking office last year, the center-right government of French
> Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin has made road safety a priority.
> Police have stepped up checks and toughened punishment.
>
> The government says road deaths fell more than 20 percent to under
> 5,000 in the first ten months of 2003 from the same period last year
> -- still among the highest rates in Europe relative to population
> size.
>
> Amid the tightened enforcement and government warnings, sales of wine
> in restaurants have also fallen by about 15 percent in just months,
> wine producers say.
>
> ``There's no question about it. The enforcement effort and the
> government's rhetoric have led to a drop in wine consumption in
> France,'' Bobillier-Monnot said.
>
> Industry groups are planning their own campaign to persuade motorists
> that abstaining isn't necessarily the answer. Afivin plans a $350,000
> initiative to distribute alcohol breath tests to restaurants across
> France starting next year.
>
> By doing so, it hopes to convince those motorists who have stopped
> drinking altogether that they don't need to be quite so worried.
>
> Transport ministry spokeswoman Emmanuelle Dormond defended the
> government's stance.
>
> ``In case of doubt the easiest way to be sure you don't break the
> limit is to refrain from drinking,'' she said.
>
> ===================================
>
>