Alcohol is a principal cause of avoidable death in France, the agency warned. No, wine is the opposite of death, the producers answered.

It is about three essential elements of French life, they said: liberty, fraternity and the pursuit of pleasure.

“Look, we agree with the moderation aspect, but on the other hand, we always feel that they’re picking on wine,” said Maurin Bérenger, a well-respected producer of the rich dark Cahors wine, in southwest France. “Even limiting it, this is a constraint on liberty,” he said.

“The wine that we’re producing and that we champion, it’s to be consumed for pleasure, with moderation, and not to get drunk,” said Mr. Bérenger. He is one of thousands of wine producers in one of the bibles of French life, Le Guide Hachette des Vins, which tells you just about everything you need to know before you drink. (Regions, grapes, pairing …)

French wine consumption has had its ups and downs. Even without the public health warning, in the last half-century it has declined by about 50 percent, according to Vin et Société, a consortium of wine industry actors.

The old culture of the workman sidling up to the bar in the local cafe at 10 a.m. and demanding his small glass of red wine, or “petit rouge,” is far less prevalent, if it still exists at all.

But a prewar marketing slogan still captures the essential spirit of wine’s place in French culture: “Wine is the sacred foodstuff that alights the fire of the French soul.”