France over Argentina: My readers vs. wine sales

See the full results here

Last month I ran a poll asking my readers what countries make their favorite wine. Readers could pick three countries, to reflect the idea that most of us have more than one favorite.

The results, compared to US and world wine sales, are strikingly different.

My audience is about 60% in the US, so you'd expect the poll to mirror American tastes to some extent. But as with any wine blog, I have a readership that is pretty engaged in the wine world; y'all are not just grabbing something at the supermarket at random. So I wasn't surprised by the winners. What did surprise me was one country that didn't get many votes.

France dominated my poll, with 27% of readers, ahead of the US with 23% and Italy with 16%. This was predictable: France and Italy are the world's leading exporters of great wines, and I have 60% American readers. If I voted in my own poll, I would probably have picked these three.

However, France is only the 5th-largest source of imported wine in the US. The hottest country is Argentina, 3rd overall and 1st if you eliminate the top 25 brands.

Argentina finished last of the 12 countries listed in my poll, with less than 1% of the vote. I had a few write-ins for Austria and I wonder if it would also have beaten Argentina had I listed it as an option.

This was not an anti-South American statement. Chile got three times as many votes as Argentina and finished ahead of Greece, for which I have a soft spot. This was an anti-Argentina statement.

My guess is that highly involved wine lovers are not Argentine wine lovers. But still, you'd think some of that Malbec affection would have made its way to the blogosphere. Or is Argentinian wine the everyday stuff you drink while you wait for the wine you love to come along?

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