Austria's Forgotten Wine Scandal
40 years on, sweet wines are back
Have you ever had a taste of antifreeze? Probably not, but if you were sipping Austrian wine in the 1970s, you might have come closer than you think.
Today, Austrian wine is celebrated for its quality and purity. The region's flagship grape, Grüner Veltliner, is just one jewel in a crown of winemaking excellence. But this brilliance was forged in the fires of the Austrian wine scandal of 1985, which nearly obliterated the country's export market. The reason: so-called 'antifreeze' wine.
A Sweet Wine Obsession
In the 1970’s, Germany had a love affair with sweet wine, both drinking and producing it. Their liebfraumilch, a cheap and cheerful Sylvaner based sweet wine, was once the most imported wine in the UK. At home, the German’s couldn’t get enough of it. The demand for sweet wine was insatiable, and Austria, a relatively small wine-producing country, stepped up to supply it.
To meet this demand, Austrian winemakers focused on mass-producing pradikatswein for the German export market where their scale allowed for more price-friendly offerings compared to smaller, historical winemakers with higher overheads. They let grapes ripen on the vine for a long period to qualify for the lucrative Prädikatswein classification which labelled wine based on harvest weight. It proved hugely successful and by the early 1980's, the Austrian wine business was booming.
However, as the demand for Prädikatswein grew, production levels became suspiciously high. It was simply not possible to create the amount of wine claimed by producers. Something wasn’t adding up.
The Unraveling of the Scandal
Three key events triggered the exposure of the Austrian wine scandal. In Vienna, an anonymous tip-off led to the testing of a suspicious bottle of wine. A wine merchant discovered his tanks of wine being diluted with water at a co-op. And an Austrian winemaker claimed an unusual amount of diethylene glycol—a chemical used in antifreeze—on his taxes, despite owning just one small tractor.
The Austrian government launched an investigation, conducting chemical tests on a range of wines. The results were alarming: many wines contained diethylene glycol. This compound, often referred to simply as 'glycol', was added to wines to enhance sweetness and body, circumventing regulations that banned the addition of sugar in Prädikatswein. Glycol testing was not part of the panel, which tested for sugar and other common adulterations, but that was about to change.
A National and International Crisis
The scandal broke wide open in 1985. A sensational headline about 'antifreeze wine' linked diethylene glycol with antifreeze. The actual ingredient was ethylene glycol, but by the time the story broke, little facts like that became unimportant. Antifreeze wine would stay.
Producers scrambled to hide the evidence. One winemaker, Anton Schmied, famously dumped 4,000 gallons of wine into the town sewer, causing an environmental disaster as the glycol killed wastewater treatment microorganisms, leading to untreated sewage polluting rivers.
Further research revealed that diethylene glycol could cause serious health issues, including liver failure and neurological damage, especially when consumed with sugar. Although no deaths were reported, public fear soared. A hotline was set up to address concerns about 'poison wine,' and the government issued public health warnings against several producers.
The Aftermath
The scandal devastated Austria's wine export market, which plummeted from 11.8 million gallons in 1984 to just 539,600 gallons in 1986. Financial losses were estimated between $33 and $50 million. The domestic market fared slightly better, with a smaller drop in consumption, but prices rose significantly due to poor harvests and the economic downturn.
Austrian Wine's Resurrection
It seems unsurprising, considering the scandal so heavily emphasised sweet wines, that Austria’s recovery has leaned heavily on producing high-quality, dry white wines. The focus on quality for the export market is immense, and new, stringent quality control methods protect both producers and consumers.
Today, you can find excellent Austrian wines, especially Grüner Veltliner, in most wine shops. The popular cooperative Domaine Wachau produces superb examples that are widely available.
Nearly 40 years later, Austria is once again gaining recognition for its sweet wines. Producers like Alois Kracher in Neusiedlersee are crafting exceptional sweet wines, including botrytised and ice wines, under the Prädikatswein system.
The Austrian wine scandal of 1985 may have been a dark chapter, but it set the stage for the country's remarkable transformation into a powerhouse of quality winemaking. Josef Schuller, MW states that his wine academy, founded in 1989, would not exist without the push for quality control and transparecy that the scandal produced.
So next time you’re at a bottle shop, consider putting some gruner on your table, or indulging in an Austrian auslese. These wines have been tried by the fires of public outrage and fear, and come out shining.
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