The world’s biggest wine lovers live in Portugal – and Brits come 17th, according to new research
PORTUGAL has been crowned the country with the world's biggest wine drinkers - and Britain comes in at a respectable 17.
The research uses data about how much wine is knocked back worldwide and combines it with population figures to work out which nations are the biggest drinkers.
Portugal scooped the winning spot, consuming a huge 550 million litres of the tipple a year, or about 71.5 bottles of plonk per person annually, according to .
Despite being responsible for 29.5 per cent of global, wine exports, France only scooped second place.
The research found that each person consumes 54.6 bottles of wine a year, or 2,680million litres in total.
The UK made it to 17th on the list, each gulping down just 24.7 bottles per year - which works out as 1240million litres as a nation.
How many units of alcohol are in a bottle of wine?
THE amount of units in a bottle of wine depends upon the size of the bottle and the strength of the alcohol.
A quick way of working out how many units in a drink is multiplying the strength of the alcohol by the volume in millilitres.
Then divide by 1,000 and it will give you the number of units.
For example wine at 12 per cent in a 750ml bottle would have ten units in it.
Other rough measurements include:
- Standard glass of wine - 2.1 units
- Pint of low strength beer - 2 units
- Pint of high strength beer - 3 units
- Bottle of lager - 1.7 units
- Can of lager - 2 units
- Alcopop - 1.5 units
- Single spirit and mixer - 1 unit
It's surprising considering that wine has become Britain's favourite alcoholic drink, beating beer and spirits.
It turns out Chileans drink the least amount of wine, coming in last place in the table, despite being voted the sixth best wine producer in the world.
Italians made it to third on the list with each person consuming 50.4 bottles of booze a year, with Switzerland taking fourth place with 43.4 bottles each annually.
Austria, Belgium, Australia and Hungary also made it into the top 20 wine-loving nations.
A study released last year also revealed the booziest countries in the world and it turns out that British women are among the heaviest drinkers.
York, Canterbury and Oxford are also among the UK cities that are most blighted by alcohol.
If you're looking for your next top tipple then you should read our guide to the best white whites that you can buy on the high street.
We've put one together for red wines too - alright, someone had to do it, okay?
This one trick will instantly make your cheap bottled of wine taste nicer if it leaves a nasty taste in your mouth.
Lidl is now doing wine tasting sessions where you can try eight different wines and it costs less than a fiver.