Bovine blood and plaster of Paris in wine: This wine scandal shocked Italy

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Italian wines are among the best in the world today. Almost no other wine country has so many indigenous grape varieties grown and bottled with love and care. Therefore, it is not surprising that the country from which Switzerland imports the most wine is Italy.

But Italy’s road to the top was a bit bumpy in places. Many wine scandals, such as the “Brunello Gate”, have shaken the Southern European country. One of the most painful scandals dates back nearly 60 years, but its magnitude dwarfs all others.

Beef blood and plaster in wine

Italian wine exports increased significantly in the 1960s. Even back then, red wines like Chianti or Amarone were loved by many people. Demand increased so quickly that production could not keep up in a short time. This, combined with the lack of effective controls, created ideal conditions for the artificial wine scandal.

As “Spiegel” reported, German laboratories found traces of bovine blood in Italian wine samples examined in the 1960s. There was also waste from calfskins, iron cyanide and gypsum. But that wasn’t all. Some wine counterfeiters have resorted to tainted banana or fig juice to make wines artificially sweeter.

As a result, the Italian justice system convicted more than 200 wine counterfeiters, putting an end to this unpleasant wine scandal. Even though the artificial wine scandal happened over 60 years ago, it still shows something very important: Strict regulations and stringent quality controls are still necessary in the wine industry to ensure the quality of wines.

Source : Blick