About this episode

Joanne Close explores the 1985 Austrian antifreeze scandal, detailing its impact on the wine industry and subsequent regulatory changes.

Host: Joanne Close Episode Length: 12:14 Release Date: May 21st 2026 Join the Wine Educate Newsletter Get wine tips, episode updates, and exclusive content delivered to your inbox. Subscribe at https://mailchi.mp/6648859973ba/newsletter Episode Description In the third installment of the True Wine Crime series, Joanne Close digs into one of the most notorious wine fraud scandals in history - the 1985 Austrian wine adulteration scandal, widely known as the antifreeze scandal. While the headline was sensational, the full story is more nuanced, and ultimately more interesting, than it first appears. At the heart of the scandal was a chemical called diethylene glycol (DEG), used in antifreeze but not antifreeze itself, added to wines to mimic the rich body and sweetness of expensive Prädikat-style wines. With high consumer demand for these luxury styles and limited supply, a chemist-turned-consultant named Otto Nadraschi advised producers that a little DEG was a harmless fix. Millions of bottles later, routine lab testing in a German supermarket brought the whole thing crashing down. The fallout was severe - Austrian wine exports collapsed by roughly 90% overnight - but the scandal…

People in this episode

Host: Joanne Close

Topics covered

• wine fraud
• Austrian wine scandal
• diethylene glycol
• wine regulations
• wine industry overhaul

Keywords

• wine crime
• Austrian wine
• antifreeze scandal
• wine regulations
• diethylene glycol
• wine fraud history
• Prädikat-style wines

Mentioned in this episode

Products: diethylene glycol (DEG)

Places: Austria

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