While French wine aficionados may not be too bothered about fewer frugal Brits crossing the channel in search of cheaper alcohol, the collapse in demand for French wine will not have gone unnoticed.

The industry has been in decline for years and the recession and the added strength of the euro will only add to its problems.

Steve Lewis, chief executive of Majestic, said yesterday that restaurants and gastro pubs across the UK were increasingly switching from French wines to New World varieties as they fall out of favour and become more expensive. Mr Lewis believes that Britain is home to what he dubs a “Jacob's Creek generation” of younger drinkers who have never even tried a French wine, an issue that he believes poses a real threat to French producers. They have slashed their prices, but this might not be enough.

Exports of French wine fell by 12 per cent last year and are likely to decline further in 2009, according to Marlous Kuiper, an analyst at Euromonitor International, as they struggle to compete with flashier brands from Australia, California and Argentina. She believes that the strength of the euro and the recession will make things worse.

Even in France, wine consumption fell by 1 per cent in 2008 as older drinkers become more health conscious and younger drinkers no longer see wine as trendy. In Britain, New World wines hold roughly half market in red, white and rosé. Mrs Kuiper attributes their success largely to big advertising budgets.

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