France may be home to some of the world's finest wines but it could be about to join the tiny club of Muslim states that forbid their promotion on the internet.

Winemakers and other players in the drinks industry are fighting to avert a ban on advertising, sales and even vineyard websites that has been looming ever since a court ruled that the internet should be included in France's strict laws regarding alcohol advertising.

The Heineken beer company was forced by the ruling last February to block French access to its corporate site. Since then, some of the biggest drinks brands have shut out French visitors for fear of prosecution. “Today in France, the sight of a bottle of wine has become as offensive as a picture of war or pornography,” said Daniel Lorson, a spokesman for CIVC, the industry body of champagne producers.

The industry complains that it is being demonised and that an internet ban would penalise hugely one of the glories of the French economy and the national heritage. A click from France on Courvoisier cognac, for example, elicits the message: “Sorry, the regulations of your country do not authorise us to give you access to our site.”

Web users from France are even banned from dropping in on Orlando wines in South Australia, because they are owned by France's Pernod Ricard drinks group. The site does, however, welcome visitors from Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

Even the alcohol-fuelled world of sport has not been left unscathed. When Liverpool played Marseilles in this week's Champions League match, the logo of Carlsberg, the team's main sponsor, was absent from their shirts, while rugby union's Heineken Cup is simply called the European Rugby trophy in France. “We are not inciting people to crime. We are sensitive to the risks of alcohol,” said Frédéric Delesque, the marketing director of Camus Cognac, which has also bowed to the law and blocks French visitors. “There are three countries in the world which ban the discussion of alcohol: Iran, Afghanistan and France. It is a pity for the image of our products,” he told The Times.

Winemakers and merchants, many of whom are struggling in the current economic climate and depend on the internet for promotion and sales, are urging the Government not to be swayed by demands from the health lobby to enforce the “Heineken ruling” with a new law, currently under preparation.

That would, in fact, be an extension of the Evin law, passed in 1991, which limits the advertising of alcoholic drinks but only to the press, the radio and on posters. Since the world wide web did not exist then, it is not approved for drink advertising. The court upheld that argument in the Heineken case, but added that it should be clarified.

President Sarkozy promised to help wine producers to tackle the issue during his election campaign in early 2007, but his Government has since been taking a tough line, introducing measures to combat binge-drinking, under-age alcohol consumption and alcohol-related diseases. The National Association for the Prevention of Alcoholism and Addiction, which brought the successful case against Heineken, is pushing for an all-out ban on alcohol promotion on the internet.

Among the recent successes of the anti-alcohol brigade was the conviction last Christmas of Le Parisien newspaper for breaching the Evin law with an editorial supplement on champagne. The newspaper argued, in vain, that its articles did not promote alcohol.

The world of alcohol fears that the inevitable jokes produced by the country's comedians are a little too close to reality. Will it soon be illegal, for example, to mention such place names as Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne or Cognac in public?

LOSING THE TASTE

— Consumption of alcohol fell by 6per cent in France between 1999 and 2004. From 2001 to 2005 wine consumption fell by 11.1 per cent

— Wine sales fell 4 per cent and beer sales 10 per cent from 1999 to 2004.

— Even more drastic was the 2 per cent fall in wine sales in 2007 alone

— Despite all this, France is still the largest consumer of wine in the world. However, close behind is the US, which this year overtook Italy as a wine consumer

Sources: BBC, Wine Spectator, The Market Research Portal

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