An Austrian winemaker has been found guilty of adding glycerin to his vino to make it taste better and has been given a 16-month suspended sentence.
It is believed that the court sought to make an example of the vintner after the massive antifreeze scandal that destroyed Austria’s wine industry in the 1980s.
It is illegal in Austria to add additives to wine and the country’s fermented grape market took a massive hit in 1985 when an international scandal involving diethylene glycol, which is found in antifreeze, was found to have been added to wines produced at several wineries in the country to increase stocks and improve the taste.
The scandal completely destroyed Austria’s wine export market for years and seriously damaged the country’s winemaking reputation, leading to stringent quality controls being put in place to stop it happening again.
Millions of litres of wine were destroyed and since then Austria has boasted of having the strictest wine laws in Europe, with additives being completely prohibited.
So it should not come as any surprise that the court in this case has decided to come down hard on the defendant.
The winemaker, who has not been named but who is said to be 37 years old and from the wine producing area of Burgenland, was found guilty at a court in the regional capital city Eisenstadt. A 75-year-old man was also found guilty for giving him the idea.
The winemaker claimed that a vineyard owner had given him the “tip” to add glycerin to his wine during a wine tasting event so his products would have “more body” and that the substance would “not be detectable”.
The younger winemaker, according to his lawyer, was “cautious” about adding the suggested half a litre of glycerin per 1,000 litres of wine.
The mini-scandal was uncovered during a routine check, according to Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung.
An unnamed expert speaking during the trial said that the winemaker’s actions had affected 284 customers and resulted in over 25,000 bottles of wine being destroyed.
The winemaker was given a suspended sentence of six months, contingent on a probationary period of three years, and the 75-year-old ‘consultant’ was given a EUR-3,600 (GBP-3,100) fine.
