Bourbon and Budweiser may be the national staples, but nobody outdoes America in wine drinking either, with the country uncorking 3.7 billion bottles in 2011.
That’s enough vino for the US to pass Italy and France, taking the first place among wine-consuming nations worldwide by volume.
Italy had to settle for second place, while France was third last year, all according to a new study by International Wine and Spirit Research. The Old World still leads in per capita consumption, however.
And America’s grape-swilling ways are expected to keep growing, with the study suggesting 10 percent growth by 2015.
As with so many other consumer goods, the real wine market growth will come from China, where drinkers are expected to up their consumption nearly 55 percent in the coming years.
In 2015, it’s estimated that 34.1 billion bottles of wine will be sold across the globe — two billion more bottles than 2011.