International Wine Habits

Filed in archive Wine Making on July 3, 2007

We all know that eating habits vary around the world, from the kinds of foods we eat, to table manners, to when things are served. It turns out that people's wine habits vary just as much. Wine Intelligence reported that wine drinkers in English-speaking countries are more frequent consumers of wine than those of other major export markets.

From Drinks International:

A survey of 11,000 wine consumers in 11 countries found 56 per cent of those in the UK were most likely to drink wine two or more times a week, followed by Australia on 55 per cent and the US on 54 per cent.

Frequent consumption was less prevalent in Denmark (38 per cent), Japan (31 per cent) and Finland (24 per cent).

"Among wine drinkers in the English-speaking markets, wine tends to play a more central role," said Richard Halstead, operations director of Wine Intelligence, "It's being drunk at the end of the day or with a meal and has become less of an occasion-led drink.

"In somewhere like Japan, wine is much more for formal occasions and for on-trade venues where people go maybe once a week."