This Country Drinks More Wine Than Any Other In The World

Asking "who drinks the most wine" is kind of like asking "who eats the most pizza." Are we talking about the country ordering five large boxes for the family, or the one person who casually demolishes two by themselves? When it comes to total volume, though, the United States drinks more wine than any other country in the world. 

In 2024 alone, Americans knocked back 33.3 million hectoliters of wine. That's around 4.4 billion bottles. But, when you zoom in on wine consumed per person, America's still bested by a much smaller European country. In this case, Portugal absolutely steals the show: The average Portuguese adult drinks about 61.1 liters a year, which translates to roughly 81 bottles per person annually. That's over a bottle a week! 

It's the kind of stat that flips the script on what we think we know about wine culture. Unlike European countries like France and Portugal, the U.S. is a part of the New World wine makers. Additionally, it has also quietly become the global leader in overall consumption. Home to over 330 million people, wine is no longer reserved for fancy dinner parties or Napa Valley tours. It's become casual and normalized, lying somewhere between a Tuesday night ritual and an excuse for a "Wine Wednesdays" themed brunch. Even pairing McDonald's with a glass of wine can be a regular occurrence.

Portugal, on the other hand, has wine embedded in its cultural DNA. It's not just for special occasions; wine is part of everyday life. Whether you're sipping vinho verde on a sunny terrace or enjoying some Port or Madeira wines with dinner, wine is as habitual as morning coffee. Even with a much smaller population, the country ranks ninth in total volume consumed, and still dominates per capita, proving that its wine habits are built into the rhythm of life.

But here's the twist: Even as America's numbers soar, and Portugal's per-person drinking remains impressively high, global wine consumption as a whole has started to decline. In fact, wine drinking worldwide just hit its lowest point since 1961. That includes big shifts in places like France, where wine consumption has plummeted by roughly 70% since the 1960s. Blame it on changing tastes, rising prices, or the rise of the "sober curious" crowd; either way, wine's golden age of quantity might be behind us.

Still, it's not all bad news. Wine culture isn't disappearing; it's evolving. Instead of opening a bottle every night, people are learning to save money on wine — with some choosing to splurge on one very special bottle over the weekend instead of sipping cheap reds on autopilot. But make no mistake, while America wins in sheer volume and Portugal takes the cake for passion, the rest of us are just trying to find our next favorite bottle.