Slapping bigger health warnings on bottles of wine will damage 'the soul of France" and turn it into a "criminal product" the country's top chateaus have warned in a stinging rebuke to government efforts to reduce alcohol consumption among pregnant women and minors.

The producers were reacting to draft plans by France’s health minister, Agnès Buzyn, to slap two 2cm-wide logos in red on the front of each wine bottle - one warning women against drinking any wine during pregnancy and the other reminding customers that wine is illegal for under 18-year-olds.

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, which makes the world’s most expensive wine, is among the signatories against the proposals, sent to industry officials three weeks ago.

French vintners are already obliged to include pictograms or a written message advising zero alcohol consumption during pregnancy but there is no legal minimum size or rules on colour. Nor is there currently any obligation to include a message warning against underage drinking.

The ministry wants the changes to come into force “by the end of the year”.

The new proposals came as a quarter of French mothers-to-be continue to drink alcohol, according to the National Institute for Health and Medical Research, and while France struggles with the relatively new phenomenon of teenage binge drinking.