After Nantes (Loire-Atlantique), Aix-en-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône) is the second city in France to host a parallel Cave, a brand which plans to establish itself in other municipalities in France This year.
“The trend is exploding and there is really demand! » At the start of Dry January (January without alcohol) and while she has been installed for three months, Ségolène Bakès, manager of La Cave Parallel ― 250 alcohol-free references and a shop in a wealthy street in Aix-en-Provence which is always full ― can only note the craze for its non-alcoholic drinks: dealcoholized red, rosé or white wines (to be distinguished from grape juice), sparkling wine, beers of all kinds and imitations of spirits.
“Alternatives with quality products”
The clientele, already loyal, comes from the entire region between Nice and Nîmes to supply themselves with a “super complete range”. Abstaining for medical reasons or simply wanting to moderate their consumption, customers come to look for “alternatives with quality products”.
“There have already been a lot of people at Christmas, either to give gifts or to fill the holiday tables,” notes this former manager of a communications agency. “The month of January seems to be starting on the same basis. »
Ségolène Bakès discovered the world of non-alcoholic drinks by stopping her own consumption and realized that although she felt better, it complicated her social life. “And then, I saw that all these alternative and quality proposals existed, with many French productions, notably at the Wine Expo in Paris,” she says.
“Today, for example, many wine estates reserve part of their production for dealcoholized wine. And what they produce really has all the codes of wine, except the length in the mouth, which comes from the alcohol. »