New French Wine Brand Offers One For the Road, Safely
Permis de Conduire contains just enough wine for two people to share, but still be under the country's strict 0.05 blood-alcohol limit.
With the French government cracking down on drinking and driving, one vintner has found a way to alleviate diners' fears that a bottle of wine, or even a half-bottle, might push them over the legal blood-alcohol limit. His new product gives diners license to drink and drive, but responsibly.
The new wine brand is called Permis de Conduire ("permit to drive") --the term for a French driver's license. One bottle (250ml, or about 8.5 ounces) contains enough wine for two glasses and is meant to be shared by two people, as the French government estimates that the average person can drink one glass of wine and still drive safely. The bottle's label design, with its rose color, even mimics a French driver's license.
Permis de Conduire is the brainchild of Alain-Dominique Perrin, who owns Château Lagrézette in France's Cahors appellation. Perrin recently retired as head of Cartier, part of the Swiss luxury goods group Richemont.
In an effort to improve France's substandard road-safety record, the government has been enforcing a stringent 0.05 percent blood-alcohol limit. (A 0.08 limit is common in the United States.)
"We have been hearing for two years that people should drink less," Perrin said. "And the government has become more strict. Permis de Conduire offers a solution to the problem. There's no questioning how much you drink and if it's safe."
With a product that condones drinking and driving and a label that apes a federal document, Perrin appears to be opening himself to trouble with the law. But the bottle includes a disclaimer that says the effects of alcohol vary by person and by the drinker's physical condition, and Perrin said he made sure the label design would pass muster with the French government. "I checked with my lawyer if Permis de Conduire was available as a wine brand, and it was," Perrin said. "The French government was not very careful with that, and now the name belongs to me."
Permis de Conduire follows other efforts by the French wine industry to promote responsible drinking, such as a doggy bag for wine launched last fall by the Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux. Earlier last fall, the national wine producers' association, Confédération Nationale des Producteurs de Vins et Eaux-de-vie de Vin à Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée, blamed the government crackdown for a 15 percent drop in restaurant wine sales and launched a campaign advocating a glass or two of wine with dinner.
This week, Perrin launched two varieties of Permis de Conduire -- Cabernet Sauvignon and Rosé de Cinsault -- both of which are made from Languedoc grapes and bottled in Beaujolais. About 500,000 bottles were produced, and the wine will be available in French restaurants and wine shops. Both wines will retail for 2 euros (about $2.50) a bottle.
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