French wine, for centuries the most popular with British drinkers, has fallen spectacularly out of favour, according to market research. Our neighbour across the Channel has now dropped to fifth place in British drinkers' affections, overtaken by South Africa, as well as Australia, the United States and Italy.British wine drinkers have been steadily put off by high prices – thanks to the weak exchange rate with the euro – complex labels and lack of big brands from France, according to experts, who said the march of New World wine was unstoppable.