17-05-2025
Roadside wine dispensers in the French countryside: oui ou non?
Love of wine is the latest French tradition to be challenged by fast-food culture, as drive-through wine stops head for the roadsides of Provence.
A kerbside cool box that can keep as many as 1,000 bottles of wine at a steady 14C has been developed by a company in a region that, for as long as anyone can remember, has relished a long lunch washed down by the very drinkable local rosé. One Provençal sommelier has witheringly called this innovation the 'Uberisation' of wine.
For decades, the French held out against such impatient transatlantic imports, but in recent years those habits have been changing. In 2023, fast-food sales in France reached €19 billion, the third highest in Europe, according to the market research company Euromonitor
