Austrian wine has one of the great comeback stories in the whole world of drink. In 1985 a poisoning scandal — antifreeze in the wine — destroyed the country’s wine exports almost overnight and made “Austrian wine” a punchline. What happened next turned catastrophe into transformation, and today Austria is one of the most respected sources of crisp, precise white wine on earth1.
Quick facts
- Austria has made wine since Roman times, above all along the Danube.
- In 1985 some producers spiked wine with diethylene glycol — an antifreeze component.
- Exports collapsed from ~30 million litres to under 5 million within a year.
- Austria responded with the world’s strictest wine law and rebuilt around quality.
An ancient wine country
Austria’s vineyards are old. Wine was made here in Roman times, and through the Middle Ages the monasteries and the terraced slopes of the Danube — the Wachau, Kamptal and Kremstal — built a deep viticultural tradition5. In 1784 the Emperor Joseph II issued a decree letting growers sell their own new wine and simple food without a licence, creating the beloved Heuriger — the wine tavern of this year’s vintage — that still defines Viennese wine culture today7.
The country’s signature grape is Grüner Veltliner, a peppery, citrusy white found almost nowhere else, alongside fine Riesling and distinctive reds. For centuries, though, much Austrian wine was made sweet and sold cheaply in bulk — and that appetite for cheap sweetness set the stage for disaster.
The antifreeze scandal
In 1985 investigators made a shocking discovery: several Austrian producers had been illegally adding diethylene glycol — a toxic compound used in some antifreeze — to their wines, to make cheap, thin wine taste sweeter and fuller, imitating prized late-harvest dessert wines2. Much of the doctored wine had been exported in bulk to West Germany.
The scandal that nearly killed Austrian wine is what made it great.— on the legacy of 19853
The reaction was instant and total. Austrian wine exports collapsed from nearly 30 million litres in 1985 to under 5 million the following year, and the reputation of the entire industry — honest producers included — was destroyed at a stroke1.
Catastrophe into reform
Faced with ruin, Austria did something remarkable: it turned the disaster into a revolution. In the immediate wake of the scandal the country passed what is often called the strictest wine law in the world — mandatory laboratory analysis, official tasting panels, vineyard registration, tight harvest declarations and full traceability2.
Just as important was a change of heart. The industry turned its back on cheap bulk sweet wine and committed itself, almost overnight, to quality and to dry wine. Lower yields, stricter rules and a new pride in the country’s native grapes replaced the old race to the bottom4.
The rise of Grüner Veltliner
A new generation of winemakers in the Wachau and its neighbours set out to show what Austria could really do, making serious, mineral, age-worthy whites to rival the best of Burgundy or Alsace5. Grüner Veltliner became an international star — a sommelier’s favourite, crisp and peppery and endlessly food-friendly — and Austria introduced its own system of protected regional appellations, the DAC, to guarantee origin and style.
| Date | Milestone |
|---|---|
| Roman era | Vineyards planted along the Danube |
| 1784 | Joseph II’s decree creates the Heuriger |
| 1985 | The diethylene glycol scandal; exports collapse |
| 1985 onward | The world’s strictest wine law; a pivot to quality |
| From 2002 | The DAC appellation system begins |
A country remade by crisis
It is one of the strangest redemption stories in wine. The 1985 scandal was a genuine disgrace, and it nearly wiped out an entire national industry3. Yet the ferocity of Austria’s response — the strict laws, the turn to quality, the rediscovery of its own great grapes — produced a wine culture far finer than the one the scandal destroyed. Today a glass of Wachau Grüner Veltliner stands among the world’s benchmark whites, proof that even catastrophe can, occasionally, be the making of something great6.
Frequently asked questions
More from this day in wine history
See everything else that happened on May 29 — who was born, what was bottled, and which laws were signed.
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References
- Boing Boing — 40 years ago, Austrian wineries were caught sweetening wine with antifreeze. ↑
- wein.plus Magazine — 40 years of the wine scandal: glycol and the wine crisis. ↑
- Christian Seiler — The Scandal that Changed Everything. ↑
- ResearchGate — Austrian wine: developments after the wine scandal of 1985. ↑
- Grape Guru — The Wachau: Grüner Veltliner, Riesling and Smaragd wines. ↑
- Jancis Robinson — Grüner Veltliner. ↑
- Visiting Vienna — The Heuriger. ↑
Recommended reading
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