Worldwide Consumption
Consumption Junction
Importers and Exporters are obsessed with statistics: who’s drinking what, where, and how much? Maybe they even ask why.
Wine is in the news a lot, with everything from the health benefits of a daily glass to expanding grape-growing regions. In the US, the new Graduating Class and their Boomer folks are learning more and drinking better – so, how do we stack up on a global scale? Marcel breaks it down.
Goes great with: a spirit of competition, a global awareness, a moment of reflection.
Global Competition…er, Consumption.
The Beijing Olympics are mercifully over, the medals bestowed to the victors. Countless glasses have been raised in salutation, bringing to mind another set of rankings, an international metric close to my heart: wine consumption. We are all players on this field.
The partisans of France are each quaffing almost 52 liters a year. The proud Italians, just beyond 46 liters. The fiery Spaniards are on the board at around 33 liters.
The Americans? The open, inventive, diverse people who now surround me, in the biggest wine market en la monde? Just shy of nine liters a year. Even the serious, wooden Norsepeople of Finland are enjoying more wine than Americans.
Friends and neighbors, I entreat you. We have catching up to do. The irony is that Europe is becoming less vino-centric as economies go global: longer work weeks, more stress, less meals with la familia. A rotten compromise.
We can beat them at their own game. At the end of the day, do not treat yourself with a “Sex On The Beach”, nor a Mocha Double-chino, but a glass of wine. Good for your heart, good for your joie de vivre, and good for your love life. On your marks, get set…Santé!