The World's Biggest Wine Lovers

[Dan_Kravitz]

The OP’s numbers are in # of bottles, some other posts in liters.

Last time I looked, the US wine consumption was at about 12 bottles per person annually, well off of this ‘top 20’ list.

I think Luxembourg’s numbers have a lot to do with it being tiny, bordering France, Germany and Belgium, and having low taxes.

For total alcohol consumption, I would have to guess that the U.S. would probably make the ‘top 20’.

But Germany is probably at or near the top of that list. Not only are they in the top 10 for wine, please remember that every German over the age of 18 is legally required to consume at least one liter of beer at least twice a day!

IIRC, during colonial times, consumption of beer, whiskey and wine in the U.S. was dwarfed by consumption of cider. Johnny Appleseed was on a mission!

Dan Kravitz

[Cris_Whetstone]

Not surprised the US is out of the top 20 at all. We’ve never had a wine culture here the way Europe does. It’s even been looked down upon in some respects. I know very few people outside of my wine friends that drink much wine on a regular basis.

[Tom_G_l_a_s_g_o_w]

Where does this come from? I didn’t think we’d rank highly, but not even top 20, wow.

Go Portugal!

I assumed we’d be first, by weight.

[LawrenceM]

Where does this come from? I didn’t think we’d rank highly, but not even top 20, wow.

Go Portugal!

I assumed we’d be first, by weight.

These are per capita stats as people have noted above.

I recall seeing the below article last year - only c. 60% of adults in the USA drink alcohol at all, and there is a large number of people who are “one or two beers over the course of a weekend”.

I don’t know the stats, but I would say that the proportion of the adult population who drink alcohol is much higher in Europe and when they do, I would say that per capita consumption is higher because wine and, to a lesser extent beer, forms a mainstream part of meals (perhaps I’m about to be proven wrong on these assumptions).

How Much Beer Did the Average Person Drink in Every State – 24/7 Wall St.

[ChrisJames]

Last time I looked, the US wine consumption was at about 12 bottles per person annually, well off of this ‘top 20’ list.

12 bottles per person monthly. Yeah, that sounds about right. Maybe a bit light.

[David_Glasser]

Where does this come from? I didn’t think we’d rank highly, but not even top 20, wow.

Go Portugal!

I assumed we’d be first, by weight.

These are per capita stats as people have noted above.

I recall seeing the below article last year - only c. 60% of adults in the USA drink alcohol at all, and there is a large number of people who are “one or two beers over the course of a weekend”.

I don’t know the stats, but I would say that the proportion of the adult population who drink alcohol is much higher in Europe and when they do, I would say that per capita consumption is higher because wine and, to a lesser extent beer, forms a mainstream part of meals (perhaps I’m about to be proven wrong on these assumptions).

Beer: Here's how much the average person drinks in every state

Worth a scolding from Craig:

[Markus_S]

Also, quality wine over here is extremely inexpensive. 5€ is a premium bottle for the average consumer (and even for the ‘wine lover’ there are countless serviceable daily drinkers in that price range).

When I told my parents it’s hard to find anything drinkable under $10 in the US they just about flipped.

Is this when they began to send you care packages?

[Rodrigo_B]

Looks like you’re single-handedly pushing up an entire country’s pp consumption average huh Tomas?

[Paul_Fountain]

I can see a couple of things that would influence this in Portugal’s favour, Firstly, the majority of the population is going to live very close to, if not in, a wine region and have access to very cheap table wines of a reasonable quality. I also think that there is far less of a beer culture in Portugal than most other places, including all of the wine producing countries in Europe

As for the US, I wonder how much difference having a nominal drinking age that is 3 years older than most other places in the world impacts consumption? I don’t expect that many 18-21 year olds, given the choice, would necessarily be drinking a lot of wine, but does that later nominal starting age mean that people are generally a bit older when they do transition to drinking more wine?

Two of the bigger surprises for me here were I thought Spain would be higher on the list and I was a bit surprised to see Belgium as high as they are.

[Herwig_Janssen]

Surprised for Belgium ? Haha , we are also in the top 3 for Champagne and for beer .

[Paul_Fountain]

Surprised for Belgium ? Haha , we are also in the top 3 for Champagne and for beer .

Beer is the reason why I thought the wine consumption would be a little lower in Belgium.

[Paul_abbott]

It seems that despite my location I may actually be Portuguese.

[John_Glas]

The number one factor in the US is we are a soda culture. When you start drinking in the US the last thing the average person will gravitate to is dry wine. This is also the reason Barefoot, Caymus (current style) and Apothic sell by the truck load. It was interesting at one of the better wine shops sale recently that they had all kinds of great producers such as Ridge, Anderson’s Conn Valley, Ramey, Frog’s Leap… but the one that was sold out first was Caymus.

[Tomas_Costa]

I can see a couple of things that would influence this in Portugal’s favour, Firstly, the majority of the population is going to live very close to, if not in, a wine region and have access to very cheap table wines of a reasonable quality. I also think that there is far less of a beer culture in Portugal than most other places, including all of the wine producing countries in Europe

Both true. When I was a student in Lisbon I would often have lunch at a small ‘tasco’ (a down to earth, traditional, inexpensive restaurant) very close to our school, and we would always order one of the daily specials with their house wine, which I’m not even sure was bottled (it was served in the jug). I usually paid 6-7€ for the meal, all included, and at that time I wasn’t even within the US’ drinking age (I finished my bachelor’s aged 21, so this took place in the three preceding years). None of the classmates who joined me were or are wine lovers, just average people.

In Spain (excluding Galicia, which is its own thing) I will almost always order a caña with their tapas based food, as I find that to be the happiest match, and the people I see around me seem to agree. In a Paris brasserie I always find the beer and cider menu to be far more complete than in any Portuguese restaurant.

[Chris_Seiber]

US not even top 20? Interesting.

Not surprising to me. It is I sure based on anyone over 21. Think of all the other beverages people drink in this country like seltzers(the fade of the week), beer, mixed drinks, etc. Most people in my neighborhood who drink, drink beer and spirits over wine.

Maybe people read Wine Bersekers and believe that the cuisine of 90% of the world’s population should only be consumed with beer, spirits or tea.

[Jozef.P]

I think Luxembourg’s numbers have a lot to do with it being tiny, bordering France, Germany and Belgium, and having low taxes.

For sure, small country, high wages, location (Mosel is 30 minutes away, Burgundy a bit more than 3), lots of expats from wineloving countries (France, Portugal (lots of Portugese moved to Luxembourg to work in steel industry back in the day)) all help.