POLL: How much wine do you really drink?

[Sean]

deleted

[Gavin Trott]

I voted

3 to 4 bottles a week

but then

1) These bottles are usually shared, so 1/2 bottle really

2) I am a wine retailer, so do 'try' or 'sample' a lot of wines, so ??

However, always have 2-3 Alcohol Free Days per week.
.

[Sean]

deleted

[Gavin Trott]

2) I am a wine retailer, so do 'try' or 'sample' a lot of wines, so ??

Yes, but do you spit?

Of COURSE I do!

.

[qwertt]

Recent ABS data up to 2011 shows the Australian average per capita consumption of alcohol running fairly even around ten litres,

Reminds me of something I read recently along the lines of:

On average, each adult Australian has one ovary and one testicle.

[kryst1]

I voted 4 - 5 bottles.

Much of this is consumed in the one to two hours per day where I am cooking (it's a hobby), generally I cook with a glass of wine going at all times... not entirely sure why - probably to do with a certain TV chef a few decades ago which as a child imparted that the two be paired. Applying that, as well as at least two or three hedonistic sessions a month puts me at 4-5 bottles. I wonder if there is a health up side in drinking a bottle, but over say - 5/6 hours, instead of a more concentrated drinking pace?

I would generally have an alcohol free day only once a fortnight, but during any calendar year I will have at least two weeks where I don't drink at all.

Sounds like I should move to that town in Germany!

[Sean]

deleted

[maybs]

It is an interesting point. The average is clearly brought down by people who do not drink at all, but I also think most people understate their drinking habits either deliberately or sub-consciously. It is amazing how you can get it wrong if you don't sit down and do the hard maths like you hav. Before I did the real maths I would have guesstimated 2.5-3 bottles a week for myself, but your calculation runs pretty true for me as well except I probably have a few extra blowouts during the year. I am a bit partial to a long lunch with colleagues or clients, most of which I would comfortably consume a bottle if not more at. That is probably 10-12 times a year, which pushes me up to probably the 4 to 4.5 bottles a week mark.

My problem is I reckon last year I had maybe 10 alcohol free days, even if some of the alcohol days consisted of literally 1 beer or 1 glass of wine. Clearly not enough. My aim for the year is to introduce 1-2 alcohol free days every week, but reward myself by (a) getting my cellar well and truly up and running and (b) drinking better quality. You know, move up to the Asti Ricadonna from the passion pop

Having recently started back at work the alcohol free day efforts are set to begin this week. It shouldn't actually be too hard (in theory) once uni semester starts in a few weeks, since I will be teaching 5-9pm one night per week.

[Matt]

2 - 3 for me...when it's 2 I try to have at least 3 AFD's.

[tj2]

I voted 4-5 bpw - increasing the AFD ratio is definitely high on my agenda for 2014 in line with my new "drink better, drink less" mantra - but unfortunately (?) I seem to have more and more good wine shoved in front of me lately...

ABS consumption figures relate to pure alcohol consumed as opposed to the total volume of an alcoholic beverage. Sean you might be all over this but I wasn't sure how you were interpreting from your intro. They assign a uniform alcohol content to wine of 12.7% for the purpose of obtaining their figures. So Sean your 134 litres of wine per year equates to a tick over 17 litres of pure alcohol, which presuming you don't drink any beer or spirits (unlikely?!) puts you at 1.7 times the national average.

In Moldova, however, you would be below average...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_alcohol_consumption

[Mark Perth]

2 bottles per week but those over the weekend. Monday to Thursdays AFD

[Krusty]

2-3 bottles a week on avg, but there is also probably 10-15 beers on top of that and miraculously hit 2 AFD's minimum each week.

[malliemcg]

Well that surprised me somewhat. I track my drinking (of wine) through cellar tracker, I would have guestimated more than it turns out that I really do. It seems we drink (two of us + multi person feeds) (and give away - gifts etc) between 125 and 150 bottles a year. I would have guessed at least 50 higher. For some reason this poll made me feel less mentally pretty comfy.

[Matt]

so no one does 6 a week? we are all teetotaller's!

[Cloth Ears]

You only asked about wine, so I only answered for wine. And, like Gavin, I realised I had to halve the 3-4 bottles per week, as my wife and I share. But I didn't trying to include the beer, or spirits.

[Rossco]

I have yet to completely tally my weekly drinking habits, but it will be hard as I drink spirits as well as wine....and the occasional beer.

I try and do 3-4 AFD, except over Christmas / New Years period. No chance of that happening.

However I do know that I drink more alcohol than water..... unless Ice cubes in my spirits counts?