Ranking world
wine consumption by country, the US is certainly
no leader. Although the USA ranks fourth in
production and third in
consumption by total volume, a very small part of the population
drinks almost all of the wine. On a per
capita basis, Americans don't even make it
into the 1Top
50. A comparison with Europe shows some wide
disparity in beverage choices...
Although many
categories are similar (coffee, milk, juice,
bottled water, liquor), Americans drink five
times as much soda pop and nearly twice as much
beer. Europeans drink three times as much tea
(which, like wine, contains tannins), three
times as much wine and four times as much tap
water. The "French Paradox" which was exposed by
televison's "60 Minutes", and led to a virtual
overnight boost in wine sales, failed to even
mention the tea and water
disparities.
In fact,
ranking #57 overall and behind most countries of the
Western Hemisphere, American wine consumption,
to use the rude parlance of fashion, just plain
sucks. The situation is even more disparate,
when factoring in that the vast majority of
Americans drink only two or three glasses of
wine each year, and that occurs usually
during the Fall Holiday Season between
Thanksgiving and New Year's Day.
Several
factors are responsible for American consumer
hesitancy in wine consumption. Oppressive post-Prohibition laws
have kept the American wine industry timid in
asserting both the health benefits and the
economic importance of wine. Soft drink and beer
brands have been the dominant and relentless beverage
advertisers on American television for decades. The culture of sweet beverages susequently developed by Americans is anathema to the wine illuminati who generally express disdain even for sweet wines.
The American
wine industry has generally followed a voluntary
ban on television advertising and has primarily
promoted itself among the already converted; at
public wine tastings to support charities, for
example. Wine labels and types are complex and
daunting to the novice, yet industry marketing
groups ignore education of a general nature,
instead concentrating on promoting features that
define and differentiate their individual
segments while attempting to throw and educational cloak over this propaganda.
Many popular notions about wine
are misleading or just plain wrong (see Three
Wine Myths). Americans
have little idea where to get reliable information about wine
and have their questions answered. There is a lingering notion
that wine is either unaffordable and elitist, or unpalatable
and derelict, and that wine is not the beverage of "regular
people". This impression has been bolstered by both sensation-starved
mass media and puritanical pulpits that dwell on the few abuses
of alcohol. The vast majority of wine drinkers avoid crossing the
lines of conspicuous consumption or abuse.
On the other hand, if we want
to look at where do Americans excel, we are world leaders
in obesity, heart disease, and alcoholism. (Subjects already
addressed in the PfW article on Wine
& Health.)
We have a national Driving While
Intoxicated problem that is far worse than any other industrialized
country and it is entirely of our own making. We hand out driver's
licenses to 16 year olds, granting them a privilege that greatly
increases their freedom, mobility, and responsibility. At the
same time, we intensify the attraction of alcohol to youth,
by denying them the privilege of using it, yet we give them
little or no instruction or guidance ... ever ... to its proper use.
Abraham Lincoln observed that,
"problems with alcohol relate not to the use of a bad thing,
but to the abuse of a good thing."
I suggest a
socially uplifting change: let's lower the age
of legal consumption of alcohol in private
homes only to 16 and, concurrently raise the
common age of licensed driving to 21. Sales of
alcohol would still be limited to over age 21.
Exceptions permitting younger drivers could be
allowed in agriculture, military, or special hardship
cases.
This is not to
say we should encourage teenage drinking.
Curiosity, however, is aroused by ignorance.
What is needed is decriminalization and
education. Mothers Against Drunk Driving should
thoughtfully and happily adopt this
platform.
Can you
imagine the other potential benefits, besides reducing
highway carnage?
Keeping
young adults at home to teach them
responsible drinking.
Giving
society 5 more years per candidate to sort
problem drinkers out of the driving
pool.
Boosting
ridership and therefore efficiency on public
transportation.
Boosting
bicycle ridership and physical health in
young adults.
Easing
highway crowding.
Getting those
cars off the road might even extend the global
warming window. Heck, if wine was offered to
teens in more houses at the evening meal, it
might cause more families to break bread
together, relax, and even share conversation. It
could be the dawn of a new era of social grace
and gentility.
Why will this
never happen? The primary reason is economic:
the huge political machine that combines
automobile manufacturing with oil and gasoline
distribution would never allow a reduction in
demand for their products. Another reason is
cultural: Puritanical paranoia has American
priorities completely skewed. In addition, a
social morality which promotes individual greed
and convenience and condones denial of any
personal responsibility for social fabric will
probably protect those priorities to the
extinction of the species. As cartoonist Walt
Kelly's character Pogo told us decades ago, "I
have seen the enemy and he is us."
Moral:
To improve personal health and American social
fabric, drink more water, tea and wine, while
cutting back on soda, coffee and beer, but
mostly, Teach Your Children Well...
NOTES 1World wine
consumption figures...(based upon 2008 data, listed in descending rank)... Keep in mind the obvious anomolies before trying to form any conclusions. For example, The Vatican has a very small population of residents, but thousands of tourists take communion there and thus skew the Per Capita figure, whereas Total Annual Volume is less than 100 bottles per year! Per Capita
... and By Total Annual Volume
. . BACK
RELATED
LINKS
The State University of New York has an entire
section of articles on Alcohol:
Problems and
Solutions,
that the Librarians' Guide to the Best
Information on the Net calls,"a non-hyped look
at the actual facts on alcohol abuse. This is an
outstanding piece of work, thorough, thoughtful,
and fully documented."
Over concerns that Baby Boomers in particular over-estimate safe alcohol consumption levels, the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has published a page called Rethinking Drinking.
The American Wine Alliance for
Research and Education, AWARE,
is dedicated to providing a balanced view of beverage alcohol's
role in society with respect to alcohol and health-related issues
through the dissemination of scientific research information
and the development of educational programs for health professionals,
and to providing an international resource center on alcohol
and health issues.
Because of
commercial interdependence (liquor manufacturers that own many wine brands and control distribution in many states),
there is an unfortunate reluctance on the part
of wine producers to morally separate themselves
from the abuses of the beer and spirits
interests. Read Alcohol
and Advertising
on the public interest group Commercial Alert's
web site.
