During our cruise down the Mosel River with Emerald Waterways, I was astonished to see the grape vines growing on steep hills along the banks of the river. I learned that this area has the steepest vineyards in the world and produces some of Germany’s best wines. They have been harvesting grapes on these hills for years – their winemaking tradition dates back to the Romans in the second century.
During the cruise we visited a vineyard, and our host stumped everyone with this question: What country has the highest per capita wine consumption in the world?
Q: What country consumes the most wine per capita?
A: The Vatican. Yes, it really is a country and it’s estimated that each person drinks between 74-99 bottles of wine a year. It is true that this statistic may be a bit misleading, as many of those drinkers aren’t residents of this tiny country that has less than 1,000 residents. They may be employees, visiting clergy, Swiss Guards or diplomats. Or they may be worshippers sipping that wine while attending mass.
The next top five wine consumers are Luxemburg, Portugal, France, Italy and Switzerland.
– Jan Schroder, Editor-in-chief