CANADIANS TURN THEIR BACKS ON BEER

Can it be so? Has Canada turned away from its beloved beer in favor of red wine? It would seem so. Canadians’ palates are turning from hops to grapes. Statistics Canada recently reported that the growing taste for red wine is cutting into beer’s traditional market dominance across the country. Beer narrowly held onto its lead as the most popular alcoholic drink in Canada, but its market share has decreased, from 53 percent in 1993 to 46 percent by 2OO9, the new numbers showed. Meanwhile, Canadians bought 441.4 million liters of wine, 64 percent of that red and rosé. Dollar sales of red and rosé have more than doubled between 2OOO and 2OO9, while white wine sales have climbed by 5O percent.