American wine consumption is on the rise , while in France wine consumption is declining. This is according to the well known wine writer, Tyler Colen , also known as Dr Vino.

Colman suggest that in the past 10 to 15 years, there’s been a decline in the consumption of wine in France for a lot of reasons. There’s been a crackdown on drunken driving and also consumer health. In 1991, the minister of health pushed through a law to ban alcohol advertising.

In America in 1991, there was a 12-minute segment on 60 minutes extolling the health virtues of red wine. It was the opening for the Mediterranean diet and the French paradox—they have low rates of coronary failure [despite a rich diet]. That’s when you saw wine consumption take off, and it’s continued unabated since. The US is in a bull market for wine, while in France, it’s heading the other way. France is still ahead of the US because there are large parts of America that don’t drink wine.

Although people are drinking wine more than ever, and at all price points, there is a lingering perception that it’s an elite drink. But that said, wine in France has been poured for kings at the royal court but also at the table of peasants at regional feasts and everyday meals. So it really spans a socioeconomic range in France and Europe more generally. And you are seeing wine is being consumed in the US everyday, as well, but for some reason it got stuck in popular consciousness as an elite thing.

With regards to the affects of the economic climate on wine consumption , Coleman indicated that the preliminary evidence so far is that wine and a bad economy are not a bad mix. Consumption has increased for the past 15 years, and there have been some economic downturns during that time. In this downturn, some consumers may trade down. Instead of the $15 bottle, they may get the $10, or they may start eating at home more, which is one way to extend your wine dollar. A $50 bottle at a restaurant will be about $15 in a store.

So they may trade down in price, but America has been bitten by the wine bug regardless of the economy.

Source: US News