A cork in teenage tippling

France mulls ban on alcohol sales to those under 18

A spot of Calvados, the apple brandy, in the bottle to help baby sleep. Champagne for all at the family fete. And wine anytime, well, because that's French.

All this tippling has given authorities pause as studies show that a surprising number of young teenagers are knocking it back in a serious way, often legally. France's conservative government now wants to wean the country's youth off the bottle with a ban on under-18 drinking.

Lawmakers in the National Assembly, the lower house, adopted an amendment last week that would ban the sale of alcohol to teens under the age of 18 and fine the vendors up to $9,400. They also voted to forbid the overnight sale of alcohol at gas stations, thought to be a prime source of booze for the young. The amended bill still requires approval by the Assembly and the upper house of Parliament, the Senate.

In a double-whammy, legislators voted to ban the sale of tobacco for those under 18, the latest step in a progressive crackdown on smoking.

The new measures came three days after Assembly lawmakers voted to ban all-you-can-drink events in open bars popular with young people - while exempting wine tastings so important to the wine industry.

"I think that [the health minister] put a finger in a grenade for which youths will pay dearly: She has created prohibition in France," said Bernard Quartier, president of the National Federation of Cafes, Brasseries, Discotheques, representing some 41,300 establishments.

"The street is going to become the premier bistro of France," he said.

The drinking age in France varies depending on the type of alcohol involved and the place of sale. But anyone 16 or older can order beer and wine in bars.

French teenagers who suddenly find themselves underage may grow jealous of neighboring countries such as Germany or Italy where the legal drinking age is still 16 for beer, wine, or liquor. Europeans overall take a more liberal view of alcohol than the United States, where the legal drinking age is 21. In most western European countries, it ranges from 16 to 18.

Now, specialists contend that this benign approach is leading French youth down a crooked path. Binge drinking is an emerging phenomenon, mimicking northern European countries.

A study of French 16-year-olds showed an overall rise in regular alcohol use from 1999 to 2007, going from 8 to 13 percent. In 2007, almost one in five boys, and one in 10 girls, reported at least 10 drinking episodes during the month, according to the French Monitoring Center on Drugs and Addiction.

The emerging picture differs drastically from the image of France as a nation of relatively sophisticated drinkers for whom alcohol is part and parcel of the "joie de vivre," the notion of living well that in the public imagination the French do best.