America Vs. France: Which Country Drinks More Wine?

A recent report from the International Organization of Wine (OIV) compares consumption of wine between Americans and the French. The French are drinking less wine than they used to, and Americans are picking up the slack. But which country drinks more wine?

According to the data, the U.S. consumed 32.6 million hectoliters of wine in 2017, compared to 21.2 million hectoliters in 2000.

In France, consumption reached 27 million hectoliters in 2017, compared to 34.5 million hectoliters in 2000.

This means the U.S. consumed 5.6 million more hectoliters than France in 2017. So, not only are the French drinking less wine than they were — they’re drinking less wine than Americans.

Êtes-vous surpris? This shift first occurred in 2013, when the U.S. officially became the largest wine consumer in the world, Time reports. That year, U.S. drinkers sipped about 1 million hectoliters more than French imbibers, pushing the latter into second place — and the gap kept widening.

Furthermore, The Local France reports, while wine consumption in France dropped 20 percent in the last 20 years, it increased 53 percent in the U.S. during the same time period.