Wine the most popular drink as customers continue to stay at home

Wine is the most popular drink in Europe, America and Australia for consumers choosing to stay at home rather than go to bars or restaurants.

 

Even though the world's economies are beginning to show signs of recovery, consumers are continuing to choose to drink at home according to surveys from Mintel and Wine Intelligence.

A July 15 report by consumer monitoring company Mintel found that amongst US alcohol drinkers, 90 percent consume alcohol at home while only 77 percent consume additional alcohol outside of the home. Wine is the most popular off-premises beverage with 67 percent of US drinkers consuming wine at home. However, the report found that US consumers were choosing to purchase cheaper brands or to take advantage of discounts in order to save money, the most popular wines being those priced around $7 (€5.4/ £4.6).

The trend for drinking at home is also popular in Europe. Italians and Austrians are also choosing to consume cheaper wines, the current trend in Austria is for American wines between $5 and $10 (€3.9 -€7.7/£3.2- £6.6) a bottle.

However, in the United Kingdom the home drinking trend is reversed: a study by market research group Wine Intelligence in May 2010 found that while UK consumers are going to bars and restaurants less, they are also spending more on wine at home with 30 percent of UK consumers paying more than $10 (€7.7/£6.6) on a bottle of wine to drink at home.  

Expenditure per bottle of wine drunk at home is also higher in Australia where 61 percent of women and 58 percent of men consume wine at home, spending on average $11-$15 (€8.5-€11.5 /£ 7.2-£9.8) per bottle according to market research groups Food and Wine Insights and Wine Biz.

Europe remains the world's biggest wine exporter and France Europe's biggest consumer of wines.