The 2010 numbers are in and Americans have officially topped the world in wine consumption. This is big news since the French really put wine on the modern world map and have been leading the charge as the biggest drinkers for many years. “Americans are increasingly interested in a lifestyle with wine and food, demonstrated by the presence of wineries in all 50 states and 17 consecutive years of growth in U.S. wine consumption,” said Bobby Koch, President and CEO of Wine Institute.

But citizens of the good ol’ US of A have not only embraced the notion of drinking a good bottle of wine with dinner, we now consume 330,000,000 cases of it annually. That’s about 15,840,000,000 glasses of wine each year (if we’re talking proper pours of 6 ounces)! Now that’s a LOT of wine! And we spent over $30 billion buying wine. Of course this begs the question; how much money was wasted on wine that didn’t suit our tastes and ended up being served in our food rather than with it, or worse, down the kitchen sink? As Americans, we have a responsibility, no, a duty to follow France’s lead and enjoy the wines we drink!

I’m hoping that by learning more about wine, the regions where grapes are grown and how wine is produced, you and I can make better wine selections. Ultimately I want everyone to buy and enjoy their wines rather than throwing hard-earned money away.

Wondering just what country drinks the least amount of wine? It’s Guadeloupe, a small cluster of French islands in the Caribbean where none of its 400,000 residents drank a lick of wine. Ironic that a French isle was ranked as the lowest wine consumption worldwide.