You might not think that you have all that much in common with Benjamin Franklin, a founding father of the United States of America.
But when it comes to wine, his sentiment towards it (highlighted in his quote above) suddenly makes him much more relatable.
Wine drinking was, and still is, something that people seem to universally love. How do we know it’s popular? We uncorked people’s opinions about wine by asking 528 adults about alcohol on SurveyMonkey Audience.
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The majority of adults drink wine, often.
Approximately 75% of adults drink wine. And those who drink often do so routinely. Nearly half of adults (44%) drink at least a couple of glasses per week, with this percentage increasing to 53% for adults aged 60+ and 51% for 30–44 year-olds.
Why is wine so popular? Primarily because of its taste and how it makes you feel:
When we explored what respondents like about wine in more detail, we uncovered three common themes:
1. It’s healthy (or at least people think it is).
Research has often focused on the health benefits of wine and how it’s better for you than other types of alcohol. The public seems to agree.
A little more than two in every five people (42%) consider wine to be healthy, and the majority of others (48%) think it’s neither healthy nor unhealthy.
The numbers drastically improved when we asked respondents to give their opinion on its healthiness compared to beer, with 66% of them considering wine the healthier option.
And when we asked how much wine someone has to drink for it to become unhealthy, respondents offered wine drinkers a lot of leeway.
About 73% of respondents said that someone would have to drink several glasses of wine per day for it to become a health issue. Older adults (60 years and older) are particularly generous, with 83% of them believing this to be true.
Related: A study on our biggest pet peeves
2. It’s affordable.
Wine can be as inexpensive or expensive as you want it to be: from the infamous Lambrusco that can be picked up for only a few pounds to auction house wines that sell for hundreds of thousands of pounds.
When we asked respondents how much they’d be willing to spend on a bottle of wine, only 3% said they’d pay $100 (£75) or more. And just 7% would be willing to pay between $50 (£40) and $99 (£75).
Surprisingly, interest in fancier wines barely changes as people get older or earn more money. Just 7% of those aged 45 years and older would spend $50 or more on a bottle, and only 13% of those earning a household income of $100,000 (£75,000) or higher would spend $50 or more.
Related: A look at our biggest pet peeves
3. It’s associated with desirable traits.
Who wouldn’t want to seem relaxed, sophisticated, health-conscious and fun all at the same time? It turns out that drinking wine can give people the reputation they’re looking for.
The top adjectives that come to mind for wine drinkers are relaxed (59%), sophisticated (38%), outgoing (25%) and health-conscious (18%).
In one instance, a respondent said:
“Wine drinkers are fancy, conscientious and smart. They know a lot about wine and are able to enjoy it by using their sophisticated taste palates.”
Clearly, there’s a lot to celebrate about wine, so pour yourself a nice glass of Zinfandel. Cheers!
