A Frenchman may now be the fastest man in Europe over 100m but it seems French winemakers are slower off the blocks when it comes to social media.

Reuter’s Leslie Gervitz created a bit of a storm this week suggesting that French winemakers were a bit antisocial when it comes to social media, compared to their New World counterparts. ‘When it comes to social media, most [French] winemakers prefer to drink alone’ she wrote.

The comment was based on research by My Social Winery who discovered that although 95% of French wineries export their wine, 91% have no Twitter account, 87% no blog, 85% no LinkedIn account and 57% no Facebook page.

Furthermore, only 37% offer an English translation of their website. Respondents said they are both too busy and know not enough about social networks to be on them, though only 15% dispute their value.

For this reason perhaps, 44% of the 500 wineries surveyed said they were considering integrating social media into their overall marketing activity. It seems, like good wine, social media will take time to mature in this most traditional of industries.