TORONTO — Global consumers are still reaching for the bottle, according to a recently released study by British agency International Wine and Spirit Research (IWSR) for Vinexpo. The study revealed that consumers drank 31.7-billion bottles of still and sparkling wines between 2009 and 2013, a 2.7-per-cent increase. Global wine consumption is predicted to grow by 3.7 per cent by 2018.
The top three wine-guzzling countries are the U.S., France and Italy, but Canadian wine consumption is on the rise. Canadian wine drinkers will consume 7.8 per cent more by 2018, for a total of 49.9-million cases. Canada also became the world’s sixth-largest wine importer, as consumers cultivated a taste for New World wines from New Zealand (+17.7 per cent); the U.S. (+9.7 per cent); and Chile (+4.8 per cent).
Sparkling wines, excluding Champagne, grew in popularity, with Cava wine consumption on the rise. Champagne consumption dropped by 1.4 per cent in 2013 worldwide, even though markets such as Canada, Australia and Japan experienced growth.
Between 2014 and 2018, spirit consumption will trend towards whisky and bourbon, which are expected to grow by 8.8 per cent and 19.3 per cent, respectively. In Canada, bourbon and cognac realized steady growth since 2009, but tequila is expected to grow by 16.7 per cent by 2018.
