Game of Thrones-themed wine, lower alcohol content: French winemakers try new tactics to combat falling sales – are they working?

French people are drinking less wine, with the young favouring beer and spirits. To draw them back, winemakers are taking cues from Madison Avenue

Brand partnerships, lowered alcohol content and selling wine with TV show themes – Game of Thrones, Peaky Blinders, Lord of the Rings – are among the strategies

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Wine sales in France have fallen 70 per cent per person since the 1960s. To turn their fortunes around, winemakers are focused on updating their product and on branding and marketing. Photo: Reuters

Published: 4:15pm, 16 Dec 2023Updated: 4:45pm, 16 Dec 2023

France’s winemakers, faced with a steep decline in sales, are turning to US-style marketing to revive their fortunes, including deep dives into global pop culture.

Once an unassailable ingredient of the French art of living, traditional bottled wine is on the decline. Over the past six decades, 70 per cent of per capita consumption has evaporated, and experts are predicting the downward trend will continue.

Fewer French people still consider a glass of wine with food essential. Younger generations often find wine culture complex and intimidating, preferring simpler fare such as beer and spirits.

So the wine industry is striking back with a marketing and branding drive worthy of Madison Avenue – a street in New York synonymous with the advertising industry.

Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) pours wine in a still from “Game of Thrones”. One Bordeaux winemaker found success with a “Games of Thrones”-themed line of wines. Photo: HBO

Thibault Bardet, whose family makes wine near Saint-Émilion in the Bordeaux region, harnessed his passion for fantasy television shows to launch a Game of Thrones-themed line of wines, selling 80,000 bottles.