Drinkers turning away from beer to wine: StatsCan

While beer is still far and away the favourite alcoholic beverage of Canadian drinkers, its popularity is giving way to wine, according to the latest figures from Statistics Canada.

Canadians bought $8.8 billion worth of beer during the year ending March 31, 2009, up 2.2% from the previous year, StatsCan reported Tuesday. Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta led the way in suds sales.

But beer's popularity has flattened since 1993, when it was at its peak and accounted for 53% of the Canadian booze market. In 2009, that slipped to 46%.

On a per capita basis, beer sales have declined 28% from their peak of 115.2 litres in 1976 to 83.5 litres in 2009.

Wine, on the other hand, had an 18% market share in 1993. In the latest numbers, that rose to 29%.

Canadians purchased $5.7 billion worth of wine during the 2009 survey period, up 4.6% from the previous year.

Newfoundland led the way, with a 9.9% growth in wine sales – more than double the Canadian average.

And there was more good news for Canadian wineries: Domestic wine was the preferred taste, outpacing the growth of imported wine sales.

Much of the strength in wine sales can be attributed to the rising popularity of red wines, said StatsCan. Sales of red and rose wines accounted for 64% of the total volume of wine sold.

Dollar sales of red wine increased 161% between 2000 and 2009, while white wines rose 50% during the same time.