(WineMag) - The Wine Market Council reports that wine consumption in the U.S. has held steady over the past three years, despite economic hardship.The U.S. economy has no doubt seen its fair share of peaks and valleys over the past three years, but one trend the turbulent economy hasn’t negatively affected is the nation’s collective wine consumption. This according to the “Wine & the Economy: October 2008–October 2011”—an annual report compiled by the Wine Market Council, an independent, nonprofit trade association. Surprisingly, the report claims that within the 2008–2011 period, stock market volatility had little effect on how much wine consumers were drinking. In 2008, 61% of respondents stated they hadn’t changed the amount of wine they consumed despite the poor economic conditions, and in 2011, the figure hadn’t wavered.