The Decline and Divide Among French and American Wine Culture
In France, still I think the undisputed center of the wine world, per capita consumption continues to drop. A new report out of France shows that the the average French adult now consumes not more than 1 glass of wine per day. This amounts to an annual per capita consumption level of roughly 53 liters. To give you a sense of the on going and historic decline in French wine consumption, consider that in 1965 average per capita consumption of wine by French adults was 160 liters!
Whenever I read or hear about declines in French wine consumption (and it’s something I’ve been hearing every year since getting into this business) I can’t help but think about the United States’ wine consumption habits. Even in the face of the stark decline in wine consumption among the French, American per capita wine consumption remains shockingly small in comparison. Annually, Americans consume 11.5 liters per capita. While this number is on the rise, it still pales before France’s 53 liters per capita—a figure that falls behind only Luxembourg globally.
Over the past few years, much has been made of the fact that more wine by volume is now consumed in America than in France and in any other single country in the world. This is a striking factoid, but it only means that there are lots more people in the United States than European countries and lots more high income folks.
If Americans ever rise to the level of the French in their wine consumption, it will not be in my lifetime. And unless that kind of rise comes at the expense of beer and spirits consumption, it would mean that we will have developed a significant drinking problem in this country assuming we remain a country where nearly 40% of adults don’t even drink wine.
My first encounter with the French wine culture came on my first visit to that country in 1985 when I stayed at the home of the parents of my then girlfriend. We all—mother and father, two sisters and a brother and myself—sat down at the table for every meal. At lunch and dinner glasses (not stemware) were placed in front of mother, father, girlfriend and me. Red wine was poured from a carafe, which was filled from a barrel of wine located comfortably in the cellar. No water on the table. No Coca Cola. No fruit juice, except for the younger brother and sister. I quickly learned to pace myself after a disastrous first couple of meals that convinced the girlfriend’s parents their daughter was dating an alcoholic.
I expect French wine consumption to continue to decline. And I expect American wine consumption to continue to rise, both in volume and on a per capita basis. But I see no reason to believe that Americans will ever come close to emulating the French in our devotion to the grape.
History. In many places and areas of Europe you could not easily and quickly find drinkable water.
There were not soft-drink companies, etc. People learned that they could drink wines and beers without drinking fecal compounds that had been leeched into the soils and into the ground waters.
USA. First settlers were pilgrims seeking to establish christian communities Here there was mor abundant clean water. Many of, though not all, limited drinking of alcoholic beverages. Combine this with the Calvinistic attitudes and you end up with a population that does not drink alcoholic beverages as much per person as some countries in Europe.
Add to the mix the evangelical types who inadvertantly promotes the evil joys of gambling and drinking and such. Now you have some segments of USA populations who are taught that the devil invented wine so seduce them into depravity. History.