Top 11 Wine Consuming Countries

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Top 11 Wine Consuming Countries This should have been a simple task. After all, the numbers I’m using come from The Wine Institute’s annual tally of wine consumption, this time for the vintage of 2010. So it’s just a simple list, right?

Well, yes and no. No because it doesn’t seem that this is as definitive of a list as the folks putting it together might have us believe. I’ve found two additional sources of information coming from the World Health Organization and the Organisation Internationale de la Vigne et du Vin that contradict some of the information contained in The Wine Institute’s list. Rather than try to reconcile what must be some quirks of accounting, I’m just running with what I’ve got.

So here’s a list that is commonly referred to as a countdown of wine consumption among countries, which is patently false since this is actually based on wine purchased rather than consumed, just another reason to take these surveys with a grain of salt. That and the fact that while many of the countries seem to jump around a trend line over the years, others seem to exhibit changes of 25 percent or more from 2007 through 2011. Maybe it’s the Bordeaux Futures programs or all of those magnums of 2007 Chateauneuf-du-Pape that swung the market.

In any event, join me as we count down the 11 top purchasers of wine in 2010. Why 11? Mainly because I can’t resist including Andorra!

Photo courtesy of sillydog via Flickr/cc

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Comments

Foxall

Hand of Snooth

262583 2,223

Really funny about Andorra. I'm planning the ground portion of our Europe trip and every time I open a book, it falls open to Andorra. Which is about 2 pages worth. Is there a message, something in the zeitgeist? Andorra's numbers could also be swayed by the fact that lots of Spanish and French tourists go there to ski or get away from the cities, and there's apparently lots of shopping. Turks and Caicos gets a lot of honeymooners, so the numbers are probably skewed by complimentary bottles of cheap bubbly in the suites.

Jun 20, 2012 at 2:03 PM
Foxall

Hand of Snooth

262583 2,223

And those numbers in Spain? Too weird. They give away the tapas so you'll drink the wine, and it works well. Maybe everyone makes their own and it doesn't enter into the stream of commerce. Or maybe they are shipping it out of the country to get dollars as the Euro trembles.

Jun 20, 2012 at 2:08 PM
Gregory-
Dal Piaz

Hand of Snooth Voice of Snooth

89065 89,937

Andorra is on my list of places to visit. been through Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, and San Marino as a youngster but would like to revisit those as well on a grand tour of Europe's micro-nations!

Jun 20, 2012 at 4:23 PM
ezh

490972 8

Bait and switch - headline said "Top Wine Producing" article was about "Top Consuming" I would be interested to see a comparison between the two.

Jun 20, 2012 at 5:51 PM
libish

1016463 5

Numbers could be up do to lack of taxation/customs duty.
20 years ago Information Please Almanac listed blackmarket as one of the top industries. In the early 70s it was like going back to the 1300s.

Jun 20, 2012 at 6:49 PM
antonioser-
rano

1055498 1

I am an Andorran citizen. It is true that Andorra has only about 85,000 people living there, but each year receives about 8,551,000 Visitors. Andorra for the visitors it is a kind of duty free shop country, and wine is cheaper than in the neighbour countries (France and Spain). On the other hand, in Andorra we have extremely good Wine and Spirits boutiques, where you can find wines from all over the world. Of course you can buy there the best of the best french, italian,spanish, portuguese, american and so on. Moreover, we have one of the best Single Malt Scotch Whisky boutiques in the world (Cava Benito), a place to find extremely old and rare scotch.

Jun 20, 2012 at 8:14 PM
brittmc

514670 13

Where is the article about Wine-producing countries?

Jun 21, 2012 at 9:36 AM
Isaac42

98135 25

Every time I see one of these articles, it gets me wondering how much wine is being drunk by those who actually drink it. A supposedly moderate drinker (two 5-ounce glasses a day, or ~two fifths of a bottle per day) will drink about 110 liters of wine per year, far higher than the numbers given. Yes, I understand that there are children that skew the numbers, as well as adults who don't drink, and that there are some who drink far more than the average as well. But in France or Italy, what is the median amount consumed per year among those who consume wine regularly?

Jun 21, 2012 at 12:05 PM
ps

70694 311

Interesting! I wonder what we can learn from countries that consume a lot of wine? Just as others here I wonder what causes higher consumption - more social people, cheaper wine, nearby production, it's just part of the culture?

Jun 23, 2012 at 7:10 PM
alegobibra

1116745 8

Thank you for sharing this information. As a (hopefully) future import/exporter of wine, you have provided me with helpful information on which countries to focus on. I would never guess that some of the places mentioned here would fall on this list.

Jul 01, 2012 at 6:10 PM
Sedimentbl-
og

546548 155

We have ben working hard since this post was first published in order to raise the UK up the results table.

The London Olympics have indeed inspired us.

<a href="http://www.sedimentblog.com">The Sediment Blog</a>

Sep 20, 2012 at 9:42 AM