Falling consumption among a more health-conscious population and increased competition from the New World rivals such as Australia and Chile have hit French winemakers hard and prompted them to stage street protests in recent weeks.
"We are going to prepare a national strategy to reconquer our market share," Agriculture Minister Dominique Bussereau told reporters after he and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin met a delegation of winemakers.
France and Italy are the world's top winemakers, with France accounting for around a fifth of world production, but New World countries have been increasing their market share.
Villepin said he would appoint officials in each of France's wine producing regions to coordinate marketing efforts and report to the Agriculture Ministry, rather than leaving it up to the regions to market their own wines, Bussereau said.
The winemakers backed the government's pledge to help boost exports.
"Faced with the decrease in French consumption, the salvation of the national wine-growing sector will come only from exports," said Dominique Granier, president of the southern Gard region's agriculture association.
Winemakers barricaded offices of a major wine industry group in Bordeaux earlier this month and others occupied an agriculture association's office in Nimes in protest at falling prices and competition from New World wines.
The French wine sector provides some 75,000 jobs but is suffering from changes in tastes among consumers. Over the last 40 years, alcohol consumption per head has decreased by more than a third in France.
Winemakers faced with the weaker domestic market needed to take a new approach to appeal to consumers abroad who are often mystified by labels on French wine bottles, Bussereau said.
"When they see Costieres du Gard, Saint Nicolas de Bourgueil or Chinon or Saumur-Champigny, they must wonder what that means," he said.
"We need to create generic brands and make a big effort to simplify what we offer because when you find a Chilean wine labelled Cabernet, Pinot Rouge, Pinot Noir, with an explanation, a colourful label ... that's what international consumers expect."
Winemakers in countries such as Australia, Chile, New Zealand and South Africa usually label their wines by the grapes used to make them - such as Cabernet Sauvignon or Pinot Noir - and often add a description of the wines' qualities.
The French usually label their wines by region, or even vineyard, but buyers who are not connoisseurs of the characteristics of a Saint Emilion or Pouilly Fuisse can be left wondering how they might taste.