According to estimations by the French customs (who keep track of it) the French will drink less wine in the current 12 month period ’08-’09 (“la campagne 08-09”) than ever before: only 30 million hl, down by 9% since the previous year. Wines with appellation controllée do better, decreasing with “only” 7%, whereas all others shrunk by 11%. www.vitisphere.com