There are so many people around the world who love wine. But have you ever wondered who loves wine the most. Well at Ideal Wine Company, we have all the answers. If you’ve got a curious mind keep reading, as we ask: which nationality drinks the most wine in the world?
Global culture
Human beings have been making wine for thousands of years. Today, it is made anywhere with a sunny climate, good soil conditions and enough regular rainfall to create juicy, flavoursome grapes. At Ideal Wine Company, you can find top bottles from some of the most famous wine-making regions, from old world stalwarts such as Bordeaux, to emerging new world powerhouses such as California.
The title of ‘biggest wine producer on earth’ switches between France and Italy, the two most iconic wine-making nations, every few years. This makes sense, as France and Italy have been creating gorgeous red, white and sparkling wines for centuries, so they’ve fine-tuned their processes to perfection. You may assume that the French and Italians drink the most wine too, but you’d be wrong.
Loving their wine
How do we know this? The Telegraph has put out an article revealing the biggest wine-drinking nation in the word, per capita (per person). They borrowed figures that the industry body the Wine Institute gathered showing global wine consumption rates in 2014, the latest available data, to whip up on infographic on the subject. It turns out that the smaller the country, the more wine its people drink.
The principality of Andorra, a landlocked country nestled between France and Spain in the Pyrenees, took the crown. Just 69,165 people call it home, but they consumed over 3.9m litres of wine in 2014, at 56.9 litres per head. That’s a staggering 76 bottles for every person in Andorra. But the country is a big tourist destination, popular for skiing and status as a tax haven, so this may have inflated the figure.
Big contrasts
The world’s smallest country, Vatican City, had to settle for second place. They consumed 56.2 litres of wine per person in 2014. This could be attributed to the role that red wine plays in Holy Communion, obviously pushing figures up in this devoutly Catholic micro-state. Croatia came third, while the wine-making states of Portugal and France were the fourth and fifth biggest wine drinkers.
Have you figured out where we came in the rankings yet? We Brits were named the 29th biggest wine drinkers, at 21.3 litres per person. Also the figures for the US were interesting. It drinks more wine than anyone, coming in at over 3.2m litres in 2014, but the figure per capita was 9.9 litres, meaning it ranked 55th. European nations dominated the top ten, while the bottom end of the table was populated with Muslim countries, where alcohol is either legally banned or culturally frowned upon.
Interesting results
Wine is so versatile. You will get one thing from a Bordeaux red, for example, but an Australian red will be completely different, so there’s something for everyone. It’s interesting that the world’s biggest wine drinkers, on a per person basis, are not its biggest producers. It just goes to show that wine has such a universally good reputation, that it’s a popular choice for dinner tables all over the planet.
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