USA Number One! (in wine purchases)

For the first time Americans have purchased more wine than the World's Greatest Winos, the French.  In 2010 Americans consumed 3.96 billion bottles compared to the French at 3.85 billion bottles.   The biggest gain was with the under-30 crowd.  California produces about 60% of the wine consumed by Americans.

Of course, we're no where near the French in Per Capita consumption.  According to the Wine Institute France drinks about 14 gallons of wine per person per year; the U.S. about 2.5, so I don't believe we'll catch the French anytime soon.

Here's a trick question for you:  What country has the highest wine consumption Per Capita? No, not France.  It's the Vatican, which is sort of an independent city-state, population about 900.  A lot of sacramental wines, I guess.

But this makes the U.S. officially the largest consumer of wines in the world.

Read about it in the Press Democrat.

Image from arstechnica.net