Americans set to overtake French in wine consumption
April 28, 2006
By Emmet Cole
Americans will replace the French as the world's biggest wine drinkers within three years according to new research.
The report from the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) claims that French wine consumption dropped 2% between 2004 and 2005, while British wine consumption rose 5% in 2005. Britain and the United States are the world's two fastest growing wine markets.
And the United States is to become the world's biggest wine drinking nation, the authors conclude. Consumption in the United States grew 3% in 2005 and if this trend continues, the US will oust France from the top spot within three years.
French wine exports fell 11% between 2002 and 2005, while Spanish wine exports increased by 47%.
Global consumption grew by 0.1% to 23.56bn liters between 2004 and 2005.
Further evidence of the huge growth in the wine market in the United States was provided this week by a study from the Wine Market Council (WMC), a nonprofit wine-industry trade group.
According to the WMC's latest trend survey, Americans drank a record 243m cases of wine in 2004 and average per capita consumption hit a record 2.77 gallons (10.5 litres).
The study highlights sudden growth in the popularity of imported wine amongst drinkers in their 20's and heightened recognition of the health benefits of drinking wine as the primary causes of the increase.
Register on decanter.com absolutely free for news alerts delivered direct to your email inbox, and our fortnightly newsletter with advance notice of what’s coming up in Decanter magazine, offers, competitions and more.
PLUS registration is a one-stop shop for the Decanter magazine Archive and Decanter Fine Wine Tracker.
