Canadians have learned to love wine—and it seems their thirst for it is only getting stronger. Wine consumption grew almost 23 per cent between 2005 and 2009, and it’s expected to register another 19 per cent increase between 2010 and 2014, according to newly-released industry statistics. “There’s a bright future for wine in Canada,” says Robert Beynat, chief executive of Vinexpo, which hosts a global wine and spirits exhibition every two years in Bordeaux, France. Beer continues to be the undisputed favourite Canadian tipple, with over 77 litres per person downed in 2009, according to Statistics Canada, but consumption has lagged in recent years. Wine, on the other hand, has been steadily expanding its presence at our dinner tables, with consumption rising from 33 million cases in 2005 to over 40 million in 2009, according to Vinexpo figures. Canadians, who drank no more than three litres of wine each year in the 1960s, now drain an average of 15 litres per person. The new data mirrors trends in other countries with a beer-guzzling tradition, such as the United States, where wine consumption grew 10 times as fast as beer between 2003 and 2009. Beynat has a simple explanation for it: wine, he says, “is simply fashionable.”