Remarkable news: because of corona, we’re drinking less wine?!
In the category of ‘news reports we really didn’t see coming’: because of corona, we’re drinking a lot less wine. FavorFlav’s Adeline especially couldn’t believe it: ‘I only feel like having more wine! In fact: since corona, I’ve turned into a booze boat.’ And all around me, I also see cheerful neighbours drinking on their doorsteps everywhere and shopping carts full of cheerful bottles in the supermarket. But still…
According to the European Commission, much less wine will be drunk in the European Union this year than usual due to the coronavirus crisis, as stated in this report. The Commission expects overall wine consumption in the 27 EU countries to fall by 8 percent between August 2019 and July 2020 compared with the average of the past five years. Converted, that amounts to around 24 litres of wine per person.
Less quality wine
The explanation is actually very logical: wine consumption in restaurants and bars, normally thirty percent of overall consumption in the EU, has now stopped because of the closure of the hospitality industry. As a result, we’re drinking less quality wine. Some restaurants also deliver wine with their takeaway meals, but these numbers of course come nowhere near what we normally get through in a restaurant. Wine importers who mainly supply the hospitality industry are therefore also being hit hard.
And what about those shopping carts full of wine? Doesn’t that cause an increase? Yes, but according to the Commission, the extra wine we’re currently buying in supermarkets and liquor stores isn’t enough to compensate for the decline elsewhere. And since this concerns the entire EU, we mustn’t forget our Burgundian neighbours either, who are used to eating out much more often and therefore spend more as well.
Import duty
In addition to a decline in wine consumption in the EU, the Commission also expects wine exports to take a serious hit. This decline is caused not only by falling demand due to corona, but also by American import duties of 25 percent that have applied to European products such as French wine since last year.
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