Kamal Ghorui
French President Emmanuel Macron didn’t just swirl, sniff, and sip at Wine Paris — he brought a little Davos swagger with him.Macron made the first visit to Wine Paris by a head of state since 2015, when his Socialist predecessor Francois Hollande made an appearance.Macron was handed gifts as he toured one of the industry’s biggest gatherings, including a bottle labelled “For Sure” with a pair of aviator sunglasses — a reference to his viral speech in Davos earlier this month, AFP reported.“Brilliant,” he said, smiling.After inspecting a gifted magnum of Chinese wine, he stressed that the country “knew how to produce” — another worry for French producers.French and European wines are also suffering from the increase in tariffs of 10 percent, then 15 percent, imposed on European alcoholic drinks by US President Donald Trump in 2025.According to French customs data, beverage exports to the United States, the top destination for French wine, dropped by 20 percent to 3.2 billion euros last year.“One of the key points is to export effectively in Europe, to defend (French wine) internationally when it comes under attack from aggressive practices, and then to go out and win new markets,” Macron said.He cited India, Canada and Brazil as having high potential, with the trio all covered by recently negotiated European Union free-trade deals.Wine Paris has also opened up a dedicated area for the first time to no- or low-alcohol wines and spirits, underlining the importance of growing demand from teetotallers.The wine and spirits sector supports 600,000 jobs in France and generates around 32 billion euros in revenue annually, half of which comes from exports.
