French exports of expensive Champagne and cognacs suffered a record drop last year as people drank less and switched to cheaper brands in the U.S. and Britain, its biggest foreign markets.

Exports of wine and spirits fell 17 percent to euro7.74 billion ($10.5 billion) last year, according to figures released Thursday by the Federation of French Wine and Spirits Exporters.

It marked the largest ever one-year drop and first annual decline since 2004, said Renaud Gaillard, a spokesman for the industry group. France is the world's biggest wine and spirits exporter.

The biggest drops were in pricey bottles of Champagne and cognac. Exports of Champagne fell 28 percent to euro1.6 billion last year, the federation said. That represented a drop in volume of nearly 22 percent, to 8.87 million 12-bottle cases.  Cognac sales also suffered from the economic malaise, sliding 15.6 percent to euro1.4 billion last year.

U.S. imports of French wine and sprits tumbled 22.7 percent last year to euro1.34 billion, while sales fell 20.2 percent in Britain, France's second-largest market for its wines and spirits.

U.S. demand for the premium vodka drove the increase in sales, Gaillard said, as the country accounts for 70 percent of French vodka exports.
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Associated Press writer Laurence Joan-Grange in Paris contributed to this report.