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Amsterdam, Netherlands — August 21, 2026 — The global wine landscape is not what we all expect, with Portugal officially securing the title of the world’s most wine-loving nation. This groundbreaking revelation comes from the newly launched Wine Nation Index: the love of wine measured, a comprehensive global study analyzing wine consumption patterns across 75 countries.

According to the index, Portugal ranks first overall, followed by Italy in second place and France in third. Notably, France, historically expected to lead the global ranking, occupies only third position — despite recording slightly higher raw wine consumption per capita than Italy (42.8 liters vs 41.7 liters). That’s because the composite index combines consumption volume with the share of wine within each country’s overall alcohol mix, a preference measure on which Italy edges out France (67.2% vs 52.4%). In other words, wine may not dominate French drinking habits, relative to other alcohol, quite as much as stereotypically assumed. The top five is rounded out by Slovenia in fourth place and Switzerland in fifth.

While historical volume-based reports often put highly populated Western countries like the United States at the top of total-volume charts, the Wine Nation Index uses a composite per-capita methodology: it combines wine consumption per person with the share of wine within each country’s total alcohol consumption. This approach is meant to reflect the actual density of wine culture and its integration into daily life within a society, rather than just bulk volume.

The index results underscore distinct consumption archetypes globally, yet add less stereotypical nuances across Europe. Portugal claims the absolute top spot driven by immense per capita volume, while Italy demonstrates the highest relative preference for wine over other alcohol types, holding the second position. France lands at number 3, prestigious, yet less obvious. Meanwhile, Slovenia has unexpectedly surged into the top four, proving that Central Europe also has a taste for wine over other drinks.

The results also reveal a disconnect between production and consumption: several of the world’s largest wine-producing countries rank well below smaller, non-producing nations whose populations prefer wine to other alcohol. Wealth alone doesn’t fully explain the gap either with the correlation between Wine Nations Index and GDP per capita being 0.55. It definitely seems that something more than income drives the ranking.

In an industry frequently influenced by commercial interests, the Wine Nation Index by Greener Relocation stands out for its independence and transparency. The entire study was self-funded and conducted with zero affiliation to commercial wine brands, corporate alcohol conglomerates, or government-sponsored marketing grants.

“We were curious to quantify and compare different nations’ love of wine,” says Vasily Yurenkov, Founder and CEO of Greener Relocation. “It started as an amusement, but it quickly evolved into a proper research task. We shifted our focus from bulk to per capita consumption, adding a measure of relative preference for wine in the overall alcohol mix. The results we’ve got offer numerous insights into the distribution of wine-drinking culture across the globe, as well as possible interconnections between production and consumption.”

1. Non in solo pane — the love of wine is about culture no less than about wealth

Georgia ranks 6th, ahead of the United States (41st), Singapore (49th) and every Gulf market in the sample. Uruguay ranks 12th, ahead of Germany (19th) and Ireland (27th). With the correlation between the Wine Nation Index and GDP per capita moderate at 0.51, wine culture is clearly about something more than income.

2. Producing wine and drinking it are two different things

Spain is the world's third-largest producer and ranks 14th. The United States is fourth and ranks 41st. Chile is fifth and ranks 33rd; South Africa seventh and 42nd. Across producing countries the link between output intensity and the Index is moderate (r = 0.55 on hectolitres per hectare, n = 53).

3. The Price Paradox: expensive cities, cheap wine

Across the full sample, the more expensive the city, the cheaper its wine basket (r = −0.41). New York is the second most expensive city in the sample by cost of living, behind only Zurich — and it has the cheapest wine of all 89.

4. The north arrived without anyone noticing

Six of the top twenty are northern European: Denmark (7th), Sweden (9th), the Netherlands (15th), Norway (16th), Belgium (17th) and the United Kingdom (18th). Between them they make almost no still wine — OIV records no land under vine at all in Denmark or Norway, 150 hectares in Sweden and 891 in Belgium, against 788,000 in France. On reputation these are beer and spirits countries. On the data they sit alongside Greece, Uruguay and Austria.

The full Wine Nation Index Report, featuring detailed country profiles, expert analytical summaries, and the complete global ranking, is available starting today. B2B professionals, importers, wineries, and researchers can request access to the full report directly at the official website https://wine-nations.com

Dataset may be available for academic use upon request.

Wine Nation Index 2026: the love of wine measured is an independent research project dedicated to cross-national analysis of alcohol and wine consumption trends. By ranking countries by their consumption and preference for wine, the project leverages open-source global statistics and proprietary analysis to offer a fresh, data-driven view of global beverage markets for industry professionals, economists, and international media.

Media Contact:

Name: Tati Odintsova

Email: tatiodintsova@q85pr.com

Website: wine-nations.com

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