Paris wine show reflects surging demand for zero- and low-alcohol drinks

PARIS (AP) — As a French teetotaler, Justine Bobin knows how challenging it can be to not drink in a country where wine, beer and other boozy beverages still lubricate many social interactions, even if France is less hooked on alcohol than it used to be.

“People are convinced that you can’t have fun if you don’t drink alcohol in France,” she says.

Which is one of the reasons that Bobin trekked up to Paris this week, to check out the growing array of zero- and low-alcohol drinks — predominantly red, white, rosé and sparkling wines from around Europe, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Those products rubbed shoulders with established producers and distillers of all things alcoholic at a major international trade show for the wine and spirits industries.

With slogans championing “no alcohol, no regrets, no consequences" and encouraging consumers to "drink different,” producers of so-called no/low beverages are aiming to profit from changing tastes and habits, in particular those of young adults more mindful of alcohol's harms.

In the United States, fewer Americans are reporting that they drink alcohol. In other major international markets, a growing no/low industry is chipping away at booze's hegemony.

France's government is offering to pay wine-makers who agree to rip up their vineyards, to reduce the output of vintages no longer in demand. Dutch drinks giant Heineken this week said it will cut up to 6,000 jobs from its global workforce by 2028, after its beer sales fell last year. But the firm's portfolio of no/low drinks saw double-digit growth in 18 of its markets.

Bobin, who is Muslim, said zero-alcohol drinks can help teetotalers and drinkers of alcohol spend time together. She tasted a variety of non-alcoholic adult beverages at the Wine Paris show, looking for some to sell at her delicatessen shop in France’s wine-making Burgundy region.

“It allows us to share a moment with people even without drinking alcohol. So they can drink if they want, but we can still share a drink, toast with them," she said. "It offers an alternative for everyone and brings people together. It’s more of a product for inclusion, I think, for people who don’t drink alcohol, and that’s great.”

Alcohol consumption in France has plummeted in the last half-century, with many adults dropping the habit of wine with most meals and young people, in particular, generally drinking less and differently than their parents.

Katja Bernegger, who produces alcohol-free wines in Austria, said no/low drinking isn't a passing fad.

“People are more mindful of their body,” she said. “If you drink today, you probably have a headache tomorrow, and they don’t want it because you need to function, you have kids, you have a job.”

Bernegger and her partner, a winemaker, started venturing into no-alcohol wines when she was pregnant. She stopped drinking but missed the flavors of wine.

“You are standing there with your orange juice or Coke. You are out of it. You have to explain why you don’t drink,” she said.

“So you are simply having just half of the fun in life. And that’s the reason why we need some sophisticated non-alcoholic options.”

AP journalist Catherine Gaschka in Paris contributed to this report.

Ludovic Fuhrmann, Director of Sales at Terre de Vignerons, poses for a photo at the Wine Paris 2026 fair, at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Visitors taste non-alcoholic wine at the Wine Paris 2026 fair, at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Producers of non-alcoholic wines present their products at the Wine Paris 2026 fair, at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Non-alcoholic wines are presented at the Wine Paris 2026 fair, at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Katja Bernegger, Founder of Zeronimo, poses for a photo at the Wine Paris 2026 fair, at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

PHOENIX (AP) — When Jennifer Rizzotti arrived at UConn as a player in 1992, the expectations around the school, as well as the women's basketball landscape, were much different than they are today.

Geno Auriemma was only in his eighth season coaching the Huskies. UConn hadn't yet hoisted a national championship trophy. There wasn't nearly the same pressure to win that the Huskies face now. And women's basketball as a whole hadn't seen the unprecedented growth in sponsorships and popularity it is experiencing now.

By the 1994-95 season, Rizzotti and fellow UConn standout Rebecca Lobo helped the Huskies go undefeated en route to their first national title. Everything about the program changed, and even as women's basketball has evolved and skyrocketed in exposure, the Huskies have remained the gold standard.

“There was no thought that we were going to be undefeated,” Rizzotti said. “We didn't have that internal pressure. We didn't have external pressure. That's the last time a UConn team could play that way. Think about that: 1995 is the last time a UConn team could play without that kind of pressure.”

The Huskies have since won 12 national titles, reached the Final Four 25 times and won 30 conference titles. They've been ranked 653 weeks in The Associated Press women's basketball poll, and Auriemma is the winningest coach in women's college basketball history.

As conversations around the Final Four in Phoenix center around how the women's game has grown, the Huskies, who are competing for the second straight national title, have been at the forefront.

“You could tell that everything was aligned for this program to reach that pinnacle," said Rizzotti, who is currently the president of the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun. “I don't think anything of us would have predicted that it would have gone on as it had.”

Rizzotti joined former UConn players Stefanie Dolson, currently with the WNBA's Washington Mystics, and Shea Ralph, now Vanderbilt's coach, on a panel Friday at “The AP Top 25 Fan Poll Experience,” which is being held at Arizona State’s First Amendment Forum in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Earlier Friday, Big East commissioner Val Ackerman, former Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) commissioner Rich Ensor and AP women’s poll founder Mel Greenberg spoke on a panel moderated by college basketball analyst Debbie Antonelli on the growth of women's basketball at the college and pro levels.

“I think women's basketball has never been more popular,” said Ackerman, who was the first president of the WNBA from 1996-2005. “I think schools that are succeeding are really seeing, feeling and believing in the (return on investment). And UConn's a case in point.”

Ackerman sees the investment that the schools in this year's Final Four — UConn, Texas, South Carolina, and UCLA — have made in their programs to reach back-to-back national semifinals as a reflection of the growing importance of pouring resources into women's hoops.

“And that's done a world of good,” she added. “Programs like South Carolina, UCLA, you see what they're doing for their campuses. The investment is paying off in terms of the brand and engagement with the community and school reputation.”

Even as women's sports are drawing record crowds and WNBA players are set to make more money than ever, Ensor sees much more room to capitalize on this current growth.

“It has been about breaking down barriers, and they still exist,” Ensor said. “We marvel at what's happened, but we still recognize there's a lot more that's to come.”

AP Top 25 Fan Poll Experience: https://apnews.com/https:/apnews.com/projects/arizona-state-fan-poll-experience/

AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness

FILE - Connecticut's Breanna Stewart, left, drives to the basket as Cincinnati's Maya Benham, right, defends during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2016, in Storrs, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File)

From left, Debbie Antonelli, Val Ackerman, Rich Ensor and Mel Greenberg sit on a panel during an event Friday, April 3, 2026, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Val Ackerman, commissioner of the Big East Conference, listens during an event Friday, April 3, 2026, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/John Locher)

UConn head coach Geno Auriemma reacts after his team defeated Notre Dame in the Elite Eight of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Sunday, March 29, 2026, in Fort Worth, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)