Wine scandal

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Such incidents of prohibited or even harmful wine manipulation date back to ancient times. Attempts are made to "improve" quality through unauthorised additives or to feign a false identity through manipulations such as fraudulent labelling or blending with inferior wines, circumventing wine regulations. The most spectacular and extensive wine counterfeits of modern times are described below:

Artificial wine scandal Italy 1968

In the 1960s, Italian wines became popular, particularly in Germany, due to Italy becoming a popular holiday destination at the time, and millions of hectolitres were imported. These included the cheapest products of alleged brands such as Chianti (in the kitschy, bast-wrapped demijohns), Lambrusco and Valpolicella, which had never seen the growing regions concerned. Many were enriched with sugar and water, embellished with bovine blood and the plant mucilage agar agar (made from algae) and the fiery lustre was created by adding plaster. Over 200 wine adulterators were reported, some of whom had also used river water and the broth of spoilt figs or bananas to sweeten the wine. The wine law introduced in 1963 with the DOC system had clearly not yet taken effect.

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Wine scandal

Artificial wine scandal Italy 1968

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