Counterfeit Wine before the First World War

Abstract

Wine forgery, like the forgery of many other kinds of drinks and foodstuffs (in particular flour, meat and milk) has a history centuries old. For this reason it is not surprising that there have been attempts at legal regulation of this area ever since the Middle Ages. But ever new regulations regarding the prohibition of the production and sale of counterfeit wine indicate that forged wine had always represented a pressing problem for the health and the wallet of worthy drinkers. Under the influence of the Industrial Revolution, the last centuries of the 19th century saw a growth in the importance of natural and chemical additives not only in the production and processing of all kinds of foodstuffs but also in wine. At the same time the borderline disappeared between artificial wines and wine-like drinks that were not a risk for the health, and actual counterfeited wines that sometimes could pose a serious risk for the health. Production of fake wines spread across Europe with increasing rapidity in particular after the 1870s, when wine production levels decreased dramatically with the spread of the wine louse. The Austrian half of the Hapsburg Monarchy finally adopted a law in 1880, according to which only registered tradesmen were allowed to sell wine-like drinks, but at the same time they were not allowed to sell these drinks as wine. However, in real life these regulations were often poorly implemented. On top of it all, counterfeit wine was not even included in this law. After intense reaction from the public and a long procedure in the National Assembly, the Law on Trade in Foodstuffs from the 16th of January 1896 finally and explicitly prohibited the forging of foodstuffs. But acute problems with forged wine remained because the law did not specify which natural or chemical additives were allowed and which were prohibited. The legislator started resolving this question unequivocally only with the adoption of the Wine Law on the 12th of April 1907.