It’s just as well the French are losing their taste for wine because many labels are now unaffordable . 'They order this matter,” said Lawrence Sterne, at the beginning of his 18th-century Sentimental Journey, “better in France”. When it comes to wine, they now order it much less frequently. Not long ago, we were promised that the apparent immunity of the French to heart disease was due to regular consumption of red wine. That was then.