Wine by numbers

Vinexpo, the Bordeaux world wine exhibition, has commissioned research which reveals that China is the most rapidly expanding wine market - but that 90% of the production is home produced. So whilst the French cry into their Perrier (or whatever it is they drink now, because it's much less wine!) it has been established that France, Italy and Spain are still the largest producers of wine but their production is expected to decline (lower yields and grubbing up of poorly performing vineyards apparently). Argentina, Chile, South Africa and of course China are on the up. The UK meanwhile has become the world's largest wine importing country both by volume and value. And in the wine consumption league per head? Britain is languishing at tenth.