The Austrian Wine Poisoning | Down the Rabbit Hole

During the mid-1980s, a discovery is made about Austria's wine that threatens to destroy the country's entire industry.
Patreon: / fredrikknudsen
Twitter: / fredintheknud

[@FredrikKnudsen]

The music for this episode is all available for listening on the composer's channel. My personal favorite is from section 4, but all of the others are there, as well: kzbin.info/www/bejne/o2Snm5-qrtepr9k For those who want to learn more, much of the information for this episode comes from German sources that are left untranslated. The two sources used the most were "Wine Scandal" by Fritz Hallgarten (in English) and "Der Weinskandal: Das Ende einer unseligen Wirtschaftsentwicklung" by Walter Brüders (in German). Many of the others come from contemporary news reports, both in German and English, but chiefly the former. I was fortunate enough to know someone willing to spend the time reading through these sources and collecting information.

[@jacobbell3720]

I binged watched all of this series the past few days and was so excited to see this new one pop up today. They’re all so amazingly well done. Great work and thank you.

[@respies30]

thanks fred

[@anonofpeace6788]

What happened to your Rajneeshpuram video? Did it get taken down, or did you remove it yourself?

[@connorpickens7523]

Fredrik Knudsen If I may ask, Fredrik, what is your nationality? I can't pin your accent and your pronunciation of German is very good. It's puzzling, to be honest.

[@nickh4354]

@@anonofpeace6788 he posted the other day about that. The group he criticises in the video (can't remember their name) copyright claimed some of the footage in the video. Probably to try and keep their actions under wraps as much as possible

[@actionpants3138]

“Symptoms of poisoned wines are dizziness and vomiting” Well shit no wonder it took so long to figure this out

[@officialromanhours]

How inconviententnenentententnet.

[@Username-1939t9]

the only difference is that one works faster than the other

[@darklegion3693]

@@Username-1939t9 yeah but some people wouldnt even know.

[@elbozo5723]

it took me longer than it shouldve to get that joke

[@None-Trick_Pony]

@@elbozo5723 I got the hangover part immediately, but it took way too long to click. I spent a good ten to fifteen seconds trying to figure it out.

[@sanspeakrus]

"I'm fine now" said a man with no liver who was pronounced dead by the press.

[@mangckyatmamon]

they have a level 3 necromancer on the payroll

[@ghoulbuster1]

he's fine he is now a skeleton

[@Sandux930]

Lol news has always been shit

[@julianstraub8766]

Once you’ve gotten rid of a major organ and survived, you are _basically_ immortal. That’s just how things work.

[@adistantwail8419]

That's what happened to me. Lost pretty much all me meat in the battle of Guam. I was only able to salvage my protruding milk balls and my droopy gauged flappers, but they were enough to prevent me from fully becoming a naked walking skeletonion.

[@Cheesypotato57]

"If we add sugar to the wine, we have to label it as such and we'll look cheap!" "That's okay, let's add this poorly understood chemical as an alternative sweetener instead." "Oh no, the chemical metabolises into toxins!" "That's okay, ethanol in the wine inhibits this." "Oh no, something else in the wine has the opposite effect!" "What is it?" "Sugar."

[@GirtheAlienGoldfish]

A chain reaction of bad decisions.

[@solarisveritatis1086]

Actually there are laws against that, and sugar add after fermentation will not create the distinctive thickness, smell or taste of Pradikatswein, and will be detected easily

[@__Razer]

Isn't it likely that the consumer would consume foods with the wine that contains sugar?

[@jesuschrist2612]

@@solarisveritatis1086 Ehrenmann

[@KrolKaz]

Its the governments fault for requiring them to label that its added sugar.

[@christschess7069]

A fun note about the similarity of Austria's and Australia's name: Australia actually has an official postal stamp to send letters to Austria which have been wrongly sent to Australia instead.

[@KlaxontheImpailr]

On a similar note, Slovakia and Slovenia have a meeting every month to swap misaddressed mail.

[@Joe_Potts]

@@unnhkp8mza522 amazon has to get to these places somehow lol

[@davejones9469]

When my dad was in the Canadian navy in the 70s, he exchanged Canadian Tire money for Lira...told them the man with the kilt was our PM lol. He changed about 2$ into equal to about 300 US, because Canadian Tire money are bills worth cents lol.

[@bb-je1tt]

@@davejones9469Well that’s pretty fucked up, your dad just scammed the dude

[@davejones9469]

@@bb-je1tt You have to change currency at an official exchange, he didn't scam an individual dumbass. How dare you insinuate my dad is some kind of con man.

[@arcticdino1650]

"It's not our fault that people were poisoned, it's the people's fault for buying our poisoned wine" What are they, supervillains?

[@CanIswearinmyhandle]

That's capitalism babey

[@OccasionalNASCARRaces]

I've always found Europeans to be far more brash and blatant in their corruption than us Americans. I appreciate that.

[@przemysawzanko6700]

Just capitalists.

[@henriquemelchiorgomes8750]

@@CanIswearinmyhandle whatever, yank

[@birdy5475]

It's like saying "lmao its not my fault I gave people corona in the supermarket, it's their fault for getting infected"

[@rubyy.7374]

“A German man drank a bottle of wine. This is how his organs shut down.”

[@mementoargentum7733]

At least it wasn't Beer. That would've been embarrassing... lol

[@mrPuddiCake]

"CJ, presented himself to the emergency room, a few hours after drinking 5 bottles of wine"

[@MaxwellTornado]

God, I hate that channel.

[@fuckerwhopings9110]

@@MaxwellTornado why :( it's so good

[@LawraaaaPetrina]

I’m glad it’s not just me who thought of chubby emu! Love that channel

[@chiffoncakeandtea]

Austrian wine going from "cheap, mass produced alternative to higher quality products" to "high quality, well renowed wine with some of the most strict laws out there" is one of the greatest comebacks I've seen

[@immydubby5789]

That's precisely what past mistakes is for. To be better and prevent it from happening again.

[@clown134]

funny how this scenario benefited mostly the already rich wine companies while the poor ones suffered since they couldnt keep up with the rising costs associated with the higher standards

[@g76agi]

@@clown134 so what, you want them still pumping out lower quality wine? Theres a reason why strict regulation is a thing, its needed, especially with food items

[@Max_Mustermann]

It is quite interesting that a lot of government health and safety regulations were the result of similar incidents, yet there are people out there who claim that government regulations should be abolished and that the market will take care of everything.

[@Misha-dr9rh]

@@Max_Mustermann "no guys i swear deregulation will actually work forget about the 14 million times companies have killed people and/or completely trashed the environment due to a lack of regulation the free market will take care of it"

[@elfertrn]

“They found sugar in the wine” WHAT THE WHOLE POINT OF THE POISON WAS TO REPLACE THE SUGAR “ah yes we substituted the sugar with poison, but let’s put in sugar anyways that makes the poison worse for the lols”

[@plot6520]

It's insane.

[@pj1789]

(for the LULz)

[@alexbenavidez4500]

Japan and China banning Australian wine due to getting the names mixed up is honestly the funniest part about this.

[@calmgoodfire4662]

Imagine if this happened during the ww2 and Japan declares war on Austria instead of Australia

[@mine2fs251]

@@calmgoodfire4662 austria didn't exist in WW2, it was part of Nazi Germany

[@Walkth15way]

"Not the shiraz"

[@wasumyon6147]

I thought he was talking about Australian wine too before I watched tbh.

[@AntonioCunningham]

@@wasumyon6147 So did I. I didn't know these places were different.

[@antonydrossos5719]

Hats off to that "Mystery man" whistle-blower. No knowing how many lives he may have saved.

[@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick]

Antony Drossos There’s always an anonymous Good Samaritan in stories like these.

[@mr.dalerobinson]

That’s why many governments have increased persecution against whistleblowers. As seen in the video, the government will work for commercial interests even if its against the people’s. It’s not a conspiracy theory, it’s somebody’s business plan

[@Shotblur]

@@mr.dalerobinson Businesses are conspiracies. They're conspiracies to generate profit. Look up the definition of conspiracy.

[@runeanonymous9760]

Dale Robinson I mean, they’re mostly motivated less by corporate whistleblowers, and more government ones? Like, while they *dislike* reduced commerce, they *hate* reduced faith in their authority, which is what they more harshly prosecute.

[@spekticat]

I'm guessing they were a time-traveller of some kind ^^

[@wednesday8174]

Something I noticed is that the people testing the additives aren't saying "how much we can add safely to avoid harming people" it's always "how much can we get away with adding" it really shows you their priorities

[@PushyPushyPhoenix]

Much like bakers in the Edwardian/Victorian eras, with various powdered substances to make bread more "attractive" in various ways at lowest possible cost. And selling it to people who often ate nothing else. Yeesh. 🍞🍍

[@Noxedwin]

Speaking pragmatically, _everything_ will kill you if you inflict enough of it on yourself. Chocolate will poison you to death if you ingest enough of it. We put a lot of additive shit in our food and drink that already sucks for us, but will absolutely mess us up if we go wild with it. The saying goes "The dose makes the poison." But speaking realistically? *Yeah.* This is _extremely_ a measure of "How many people can we have die to this before the complaining starts to hurt our money?" They knew what they were doing, and what the consequences were. Screw "public outcry", there should have been a public _hanging._

[@karan_puuung7687]

When people had this toxic wine, this is what happened to their stomach and liver. CJ is a 40 y.o, PRESENTING to the emergency room.

[@stoneman472]

You deserve more likes for that joke.

[@themurderofcoke]

What -emia is ethylene glycol content in blood?

[@mattBLACKpunk]

All you had to do was drink the damn wine cj!

[@angelikaskoroszyn8495]

"A man drank cheap wine. This is what happened to his liver"

[@antidoteforlife9460]

@@angelikaskoroszyn8495 sounds like a Russian proverb

[@WhaleManMan]

So this is why Dan Akroyd was always talking about "no glycol" in his Crystal Skull vodka.

[@cheekyfantasy1314]

Omg thats so true

[@koiirohoshi1218]

*cough* very nice

[@kieranmcinnis8526]

Oooooohhhhh

[@prinnyblackblade]

In his defense, Crystal Head IS the best vodka I've ever had.

[@Sandux930]

Or sugar lol

[@Svoorhout85]

It infuriates me that scummy politicians are only punished with "resignation" while citizens would go to prison.

[@KazzArie]

Stefan Voorhout only in the worst cases. You catch that the other(s) were transferred to other departments? Same shit absolutely the world over. No government is free from corruption or nepotism

[@jackspedicy2711]

CAPITALISM WINS AGAIN

[@syncategorematically]

well the justice system even today is full of hole and the arsehole with power and money will always got away. like the one said, capitalism win again

[@lazergurka-smerlin6561]

Well there's always the problem of Judges potentially being biased toward a politician because of political affiliation. So because of that bias it's very hard to take politicians to court, and for them to go to prison

[@EinFelsbrocken]

@@syncategorematically Well; I would try other government forms; but if you look at Russia or China; even if theyre communist; theres still the rich and the poor; and the government still meddles in capitalist affairs. Its hopeless; we will remain idiot fucks all around the planet; until we incinerate ourselves in nuclear fire. Yayyyy.. disappointing

[@olookslike0]

I love how the most common reaction from the wine industry in Austria was "how can we continue to make this wine as cheaply as possible and yet survive this mass scandal?" and at the end of the day the solution to the problem was just to make better wine and not be cheapskates. I feel like a lot of companies in America could learn a thing or two from that conclusion.

[@bingcrosby1660]

im looking at both the game and automotive industry specifically but really, i can see alot of industries that should tale the same approach

[@Shaun_Jones]

It’s a little more complicated than it seems. The wine companies basically switched from the high volume/low cost market to the smaller volume/high quality market. This would be kind of like if a car company made economy cars, and a scandal broke that they were making unsafe cars; so instead of making better economy cars, the company started building for the luxury car market.

[@olookslike0]

@@Shaun_Jones Well sure, I get that business isn't always about the difference between selling "good or bad" products, still, the course correction seemed to come far later than it probably should have. And at the end of the day, it's the consumers who decide whether an industry is high quality or not, even if its directed towards a specific class of individuals.

[@Iijjccbb]

@@bingcrosby1660 but, but that would require them to release an actually finished game instead of releasing it only mostly or half finished and selling the rest of it through dlc’s!

[@mechanicalruby]

americans?!? learning?!?!? ew!

[@wouldntyouliketoknow8904]

I actually learned about this scandal through an early Simpsons episode where Bart goes to France and discovers that two frenchmen have been poisoning the wines. Apparently, the episode was inspired by this event.

[@steveboru7734]

That Simpsons episode came to mind as I was watching this video! Air date was April 15, 1990

[@lochshiel]

Same. I always assumed that scene was referencing a real event. Only took 20+ years to find out...

[@michaelmccray8026]

Came here to say this

[@murielleladouceur6414]

“Et ils ont donné mon chapeau à un âne!”

[@pokehybridtrainer]

Holy crap, you're right. 30 years later, that reference makes sense. Damn, the writers there were gold.

[@tlam3028]

Imagine how confused the Australian wine industry was when they were banned in China and Japan

[@joeschmoe3815]

I'll drink to that! Greetings from Austria 😬

[@SToNeOwNz]

The real question is how can you bottle wine in a country where up is down?

[@sc6554]

@@SToNeOwNz Highly underrated comment here Zack G good one hahahahaha

[@flrs5858]

Zack G We have special gravity harnesses for our kegs and pumps to fill up our wine barrels.

[@stefm.w.3640]

@@joeschmoe3815 prost

[@kiaayo]

"Austrian wine companies were adding a toxic chemical just to avoid having to put sugar in their wine. They also added sugar to their wines, which made them even more dangerous."

[@nd77u]

We call it farmers logic.

[@xxLiquidxxSnakExx]

**Scene from 300** "This is madness!" "Na! DES - IS - AUSTRIAAA!" **kicks guy into a pit filled with wine**

[@TheOnlyGeggles]

@@xxLiquidxxSnakExx The written out Austrian accent is what makes this funny

[@MrTigracho]

Big brain move

[@dentistguba]

Like the crisps that have MSG despite having so much actual salt etc they taste too strong anyway.

[@StookyDoo22]

Seeing grape juice got affected too really struck me. It's such a carefree drink compared to wine, and children drink it!

[@lephishe6271]

Probably more children than adults. Why? No child is going to drink grape juice and say "too bitter!" unless they just find grape juice to be inherently bitter and just don't like grape juice. And the kids that like grape juice probably aren't gonna be that critical of the taste of their grape juice.

[@None-Trick_Pony]

Drinking game: everytime he says 'glycol' drink pure diethelyne glycol.

[@Echo_the_half_glitch]

no doN'T DO THAT-

[@LevakekkuLI]

@@Echo_the_half_glitch don't worry, it's fine. people did that all the time in the 80's

[@jstoned88]

@RadBaeron what a long name

[@gl1tchygreml1n]

@@LevakekkuLI That is the longest name I’ve ever seen on KZbin, pretty impressive actually

[@richardtherichard26]

Go ahead, gene pool needs some culling anyway

[@DeathofHeavens]

"The secret ingredient is crime."

[@beanwaddlers1883]

NineDeath That crack is really moreish

[@thanatoast]

For a second i thought you said something inappropriate

[@PaulRudd1941]

I forget where the reference is from, the simpsons springs to mind? Correct me if I'm wrong.

[@PaulRudd1941]

Ah NVM, it's the peep show. Brilliant comment mate.

[@willkatching9219]

They should be paying me to drink this shit

[@913kaixa]

What I love about Fredrik Knudsen is that he uses the same tone of voice for describing glycol poisoning as he does for reciting the angry Facebook messages of an angry cat cafe owner roleplaying as her cats.

[@elizabethsullivan1894]

We have no cats, Kathleen!

[@OmniSonic]

Drink, drink, DEAD

[@revstalker7334]

Well he's a documentary youtuber. He literally tries to present the topic as objectively as possible while trying to maintain an aura of seriousness about the topic, to the point where a topic that you would laugh at or be angry about actually sounds like a cautionary tale of how crazy the world can get. Legit one of the best sources of documentaries on KZbin. OKI's Weird Stories is another great series, definitely recommend it for anyone who enjoys Down the Rabbit Hole. My personal favorites are the John McAfee series, the Hiroo Onoda two-parter and the Thierry Tilly series.

[@Anino_Makata]

Yeah. Fredrik's monotone and serious way of speaking pretty much makes the topics he chooses to research on more interesting and entertaining, without tainting the content itself with unnecessary "entertainment glamour".

[@Sandux930]

We have no wines kathleen

[@isaacgruver7061]

"Ahh shit, they realized we poisoned the wine. Well, Germany hasn't realized yet, let's sell it to them!" What scumbags.

[@jaden4804]

sigma males*

[@armitx9]

@@jaden4804 😎

[@marvinzwettler8171]

Maybe shouldn't have started WW1

[@lolno6465]

​@@marvinzwettler8171 but Austria started WW1....

[@milkyshakes]

Waiter: “Our special wine today is a 40 year old rare Austrian known for it’s sweet taste…” All of us: “I’m okay thx”

[@zacharyparker995]

I admire your quest to cover every mass poisoning.

[@AnomalySource]

Zachary Parker ha

[@viesturssilins858]

@Egg T I wonder, are you a bot, or just someone who has been hit really hard by the enforced quarantine and isolation?

[@Mngalahad]

the way in which chris chan poisoned the internet was a good start.

[@beruman]

maybe he is trying to tell us something

[@YoUtUbEhAnDlEsArEgReAt]

Expect a new video in July :)

[@holonholon1141]

"Due to the similarity of their names" Australian here, clicked the video wondering why I hadn't heard about the wine poisoning before...

[@holonholon1141]

@Lassi Kinnunen apparently through entry into Latin, meaning "aust-" could either be "east" or "south". Great. en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Austria#Etymology

[@pokemonsisters]

Lassi Kinnunen when I was in the second grade we had to write an essay on our ideal vacation location. I had wanted to go to Australia but wrote entirely about Austria when I looked online. “Hm those guys just speak German over there I guess!”

[@KOTEBANAROT]

@@pokemonsisters your teacher: wow this kid wants to learn about europe and look at the buildings and shit, thats unusual You: kemgoroo

[@brennencox516]

I thought that too, I think because I know of Australia's wine industry, but not of Austria's.

[@nameofthename]

bruh i too thought australia had a wine poisoning and so when he said "austria(n)" for the first time, i was so confused

[@rubenj.3894]

''... Japan and China also ordered a ban on Australian wine, due to the similarity of the countries names'' I am wondering how the Australian vineyards responded to that lol

[@surfinbird221]

Duck gang

[@rubenj.3894]

@@surfinbird221 Duck gang 🦆

[@Ebinspurdo]

Ah, now I understand the saying "Life is too short to drink cheap wine".

[@vivil2533]

I got a new saying "Life is too long to drink expensive wine."

[@taseti3607]

Virgin KZbinr: Gotta get the last scoop on the current drama and memes Chad KZbinr: Austrian Wine Poisoning

[@Pin3C0ne]

Ta Seti Fredrik is the definition of not following trends

[@liaml.e.5964]

This channel is one of the best, imo. He does deep research on every subject, cites it, and delivers with massive quality.

[@derekg5674]

Liam L.E. I think the word you’re looking for is, “cite.”

[@liaml.e.5964]

@@derekg5674 thank you

[@AlanaBananaCanada]

_Raises poisoned wine_ 🍷

[@reviewbooth8686]

I love the defense of: “well, it’s cheap wine, what did you expect?” As if I should be willing to accept death for a $13 wine

[@generalrubbish9513]

[buys cheap wine] "You have lost your kidney privileges"

[@Yuuzu]

those wines actually go for around 1-2€ per 0.75l bottle here in austria

[@alexs5744]

$13 for wine can get you a good bottle.

[@horseenthusiast1250]

Yeah, like. It's not like you buy a box of Franzia and expect to drop dead afterwards...what an awful argument

[@Rizzydom]

@@Yuuzu I remember back in the day we bought 50 cent 1l "Packerlwein"

[@abeharis5770]

-straight up barge into federal institue of agricultural chemistry building -put a bottle and says that inside the bottle was the chemical used to make a lot of wine -refuse to elaborate further -leave That guy with german accent is absolute chad

[@OtakuUnitedStudio]

People: "The people who make cheap wine poisoned us!" Lawyers: "It's your fault for wanting cheap wine." Ha ha, oh wow.

[@wegner7036]

I always thought that the wine industry was so incredibly pretentious that wine stewards would eventual justify the poisoning of anyone who dare purchase cheap wine.

[@michaelg5587]

Welcome to Austria, if you can't afford bread eat cake 😅

[@HiddenFat]

I love how this started with a trucker who was like hell nah, no water in my wine

[@wannabehistorian371]

He was a good man.

[@arturocevallossoto5203]

I mean, wine is a very big deal in Austria and Southern Geramny. It's cheap and he probably drank some everyday at dinner. Maybe he even bought of that brand. And then you see this guys dumping water on it like its nothing.

[@Foreststrike]

And then, subsequently, that anonymous man who just leaves a wine bottle with diethylene glycol inside... and walks out like a boss.

[@zeromailss]

@@Foreststrike it would be cool if that man was actually the trucker, his first plea wasn't heard so he decided to take action himself "You dare mess with my wine!? Nobody mess with my wine, *NOBODY!"*

[@KitKatMuskrat]

It’s like he was Jesus, except he turned wine into water into diethylene glycol but not really and this metaphor kinda fell apart.

[@connorpickens7523]

"Hey, I have your 400,000 liter shipment of ethylene glycol. Where's it going?" "The wine factory." *"Sounds perfectly good to me."*

[@voidofspaceandtime4684]

@@dotexe1205 for his singular small tractor. so no.

[@rebornpheonix1016]

@@voidofspaceandtime4684 That's the joke.

[@shutupgaydog827]

@@voidofspaceandtime4684 bruh

[@CalderaXII]

@@voidofspaceandtime4684 who knew a void could be so dense

[@Robert-tl2vg]

Connor Pickens well... you tried to be funny

[@ShamankingZuty]

I wonder if surviving bottles of these wines are collector items. There's such a good story behind it and so many bottles were destroyed, so I feel like this would be an extremely rare niche item for someone who is a wine hobbiest. At the very least, it's a talking point for a bottle you have in your collection but can never drink.

[@Vulpilux]

For only 50 grand you can have your very own bottle of poison.

[@ajj4515]

I really want to drink it tbh. Not like a lot of course. But like. Just a glass

[@The_Stigs_Austrian_cousin]

@@ajj4515 We have some in our wine cellar ranging from 1976 to 1985, but most of them have bad corks by now, they would taste like vinegar.

[@jerryb216]

​@@The_Stigs_Austrian_cousinYummy death vinegar. Sign me up

[@RADZIO895]

Damn, adding chemicals that can damage customers' body to your products just to make them cheaper and better tasting, what a scummy thing to do. Luckily that was in the past *takes a sip of coca cola*

[@manperor_32b8]

“Takes a giant glug of sweet sweet bleach”

[@babyfacenc]

Diet coke is poison

[@pinkflametheepic]

@@babyfacenc yummy poison

[@edwardhisse2687]

Most foods are toxic to a degree. May as well have a good life, not a long one.

[@Shaun_Jones]

Technically speaking, water can poison you in high enough amounts, as can salt. As was said above, ingesting almost anything in very large amounts can damage your body. Everything in moderation.

[@VersaceJesus]

So this was Austria's second worst export to Germany?

[@FizzyGajing]

Wait. What? Hahahahaha

[@facelessidiot6407]

Ouch.

[@channel5980]

Oof

[@red2theelectricboogaloo961]

@@FizzyGajing you know. the second worst export from austria to germany, just like the wierd mustache man, the first worst.

[@Darrylizer1]

LOL

[@PickleSurpriseVEVO]

“Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated” - some German guy in Austria

[@washingmachine969]

God damn, that game was brutal.

[@Uberkatze-]

Hitler?

[@proudtobeme1ashkente]

@@Uberkatze- That'd be funny but it's a German guy in Austria. With Hitler, it was the other way around.

[@knavenformed9436]

But Picard is french? And in space.

[@sdfabctr]

"Some German guy in Austria" sounds like the ultimate setup for a joke but I don't know how to finish it.

[@XavierTheNeonTiger]

This is by far my favourite down the rabbit hole. The corruption is terrible, of course, but it's so over the top it crosses the line for me to hilarious.

[@damienhelmold6978]

mine 2

[@Zestric]

"Frostschutzwein" (Antifreeze wine) is still sometimes used to describe cheap, bad tasting wine. Even by people not alive at the time.

[@m_crowley6674]

was this the reason behind that "antifreeze in the wine" joke in the simpsons episode where bart goes to france?

[@docvolt5214]

Indeed

[@H3wastooshort]

always thought it was because of the ethanol in the antifreeze

[@bigEB184]

I thought of the exact same episode.

[@pinkflametheepic]

After all these years I finaly get the joke. Ha ha

[@Grandmaster-Kush]

Good catch!

[@t75044]

I was only a kid in the south of England when this happened but my Dad told me that there was a garage near where we lived that had an advert saying 'Our anti-freeze is 100% wine free'

[@logansmith2703]

That's hilarious

[@usecode___7453]

Classic dry English humor... I love it

[@Makumbator]

I was 12 when all that happened. The Frostschutzmittel-Jokes where off the charts.

[@foxandbarrettshow6916]

I always love how snooty Brits sound when they say" south of north of" that's like saying " when I was in the west of fort Worth"

[@t75044]

​@@foxandbarrettshow6916 It rains alot here, we have to do something to pass the time on those days

[@napatora]

"it's their fault for buying cheap wine" doesn't really track when the entire market was tainted, besides the other more obvious problems with that statement

[@germanas7898]

"How was the government involved? How did this happen in the first place? And why?". The answer is simple - Money, money and obviously, money.

[@elegantcat1496]

"They blamed the costumers for buying such cheap wine" Oh, that old trick is even older than I imagined.

[@TheGreatAtario]

If they'd stop paying so much attention to wearing costumes, we wouldn't be in this mess!

[@dicemm5544]

I love how sellers being scam is the consumers fault. Yes, an informed consumer that you give him no information about your product will totally know to make the right decision by just the price. Especially on a simply thing like wine.

[@lunatuna9313]

Good ole’ fashioned gaslighting

[@LUHSTUR]

@@dicemm5544 What makes it even worse though is the fact that so many wine brands were affected. It essentially became a 'find the needle in the hay stack' scenario except the customer couldn't even know what the needle looks like.

[@chosebine2169]

"i was only pretending that THEY'RE retarded"

[@SaerasChuu]

Every time he said "glycol" all I could think of was Dan Aykroyd talking about glycol in vodka.

[@hm-jt3os]

There's various glycols, not saying what he has is any good though lmao

[@hm-jt3os]

For example, vape juice is mostly vegetable glycerin and propylene glycol

[@happyveliz]

Glycol? Should it not have glycol in it??

[@plagueofangel8694]

You mean that time Dan Aykroyd almost killed Larry King?

[@ShogunMongol]

@@happyveliz Different kind of glycol.

[@mrdjgosling]

China banning Australian wine hits different now.

[@youvebeenpwned6988]

Good keep the goon in Oz more for me

[@kingnothing3523]

> Enters agricultural chemistry building > Places bottle on table > Declares bottle to contain the poison adulterant of nearly all Austrian wine > Refuses to elaborate further > Leaves

[@Jsay18]

>Never identified, never found >Where is he?

[@enterprisekid]

Misistry of Viticulture: How much sawdust can we put in our rice-krispies before people actually notice?

[@DeandreSteven]

Sawdust probably wont hurt you tho. Its just cellulose. It could block up your pooper

[@boilaknezzi8974]

PolySaken I get my fresh logs delivered every week from a free range tree farm. The logs are poison free, juicy and tender. I usually have mustard on the side for dipping!

[@AlexanderLeset]

"We Tested Positive (For Glycol Poisoning)"

[@dennismartin5821]

Well, Taco Bell's been going with a 10 to 20% mixture. I say we try that.

[@rentori7141]

@Enterprise Kid I understood that reference

[@oswaldfigglebottom]

"A man drank a bottle of Austrian wine. This is what happened to his brain." - chubbyemu

[@GabAssbreaker]

Fredrik describing the symtoms of poisoning reminds me a lot of chubbyemu.

[@julianstraub8766]

Regardless of what is in it, not sure drinking an entire bottle of wine by your lonesome is an advisable idea. _Especially_ Austrian, in that case just go for five and make it a straight up suicide attempt.

[@absinthefandubs9130]

@@GabAssbreaker He really does a good impression around 6 minutes

[@malign3158]

You can always count on someone to make a joke out of a bad situation. “Cheers, to Glycol!” What an absolute memelord

[@SirAsdf]

4:05 Can we talk about how this one guy likely managed to bring down an entire conspiracy, saved countless lives, and just vanished into the night like a Chad?

[@sudanemamimikiki1527]

must have been either a worker of a company who developed compassion. or a worker for a company that wasnt using the substance and wanted to strike down competition.

[@chutneybucket5622]

"I'm fine now." That is the most German response ever.

[@kostajovanovic3711]

In Herzog's voice

[@neurotoxic1830]

"Mir geht es gut jetzt". Try that in heavy German accent

[@bugjams]

Dude had his entire liver fail and was like “Yeah whatever”, wouldn’t be surprised if he went back to drinking. 😂

[@ilasq]

when did he say that

[@Jan-ex3wj]

what does his response gave to do with germany?

[@brodieboy255]

"Austrian wine propaganda office" is a phrase I didn't think I'd be hearing today, or ever really

[@trieuwerts]

Think of it as a marketing company for Austrian wine, as propaganda is just marketing your country.

[@SToNeOwNz]

Think of it as a lobbyist/advocate group.

[@BlueTS777]

holy crap he said it in the vid the exact same time i read ur comment! what is it tho?

[@MaxiemumKarnage]

Yeah, nowadays it's just Left Wing Propaganda. Bring back classy propaganda

[@konsfuzius86]

gross misnomer. it probably (since I do not know the initial source used here) is an interest group, lobbying for wine manufacturers. This is NOT a public office.

[@josoffat7649]

As a plumber, when i heard the words toxic chemical and sweet wine, I instantly knew the answer was ethylene glycol. This story sickens me. Even propylene glycol is bad for you and is in tons of food products, not toxic but still very bad

[@Numizard]

You're wrong on that last sentence

[@JiveDadson]

It wasn't ethylene glycol. It was diethylene glycol.

[@JiveDadson]

@@Numizard The first sentence also.

[@grodcoyote6635]

Holyshit I finally understand why Dan Aykroyd was so obsessed with saying his vodka had no glycol

[@ChrisSmith-mi2zo]

Diethylene glycol is not quite the same as other glycol compounds. Ethylene glycol is fairly safe and commonly used in vodka (aside from Aykroyd's) while propylene glycol is a more environmentally friendly alternative used in drinks like whiskey.

[@KaeYoss]

"We can't add sugar, as they're testing for that. Let's add glycol." "Okay, but let's also add sugar" "Wha-"

[@ecyor0]

"Good news, ethanol counteracts the poison!" "Hooray!" "But sugar makes it worse!" "Oh no!" (also, what a wild ride, I did not expect a "this was ultimately the result of global warming" twist at the end there)

[@hellothere5843]

But you can't have glycol in alcohol, because glycol is antifreeze. You would know that if you drank Dan Aykroyd's Crystal Head Vodka, which is vodka in its purest form, quadruple distilled with double terminated quartz.

[@marioanothlp]

@@hellothere5843 I finally understand why people who tested the vodka on the shows looked on in horror when they mentioned it....

[@SDZ675]

I bet it was not that harmful before they added that sugar.

[@mindshuffler3332]

Austrian wine companies: "Business is booming!" Unidentified German Man: "I'm about to end this country's whole industry."

[@lonelychameleon3595]

Wouldn't be the first time a German fucked up Austria

[@sharpnail8806]

and that man was named Hitler

[@klille]

@@sharpnail8806 hitler was austrian, not german

[@123phi123]

@@lonelychameleon3595 Actually, it was the other way around. And World War 2 happened first

[@supercool1312]

Lonely Chameleon what was the first time?

[@done8140]

Reminds me of 'The Tylenol Murders' over here in the USA in the 80's .... still unsolved to this day as well.

[@dda50]

"How much Diethylene glycol would be hazardous to a persons health?" is a sentence no human should ever have to say.

[@PlazmaSilvaraGMS]

so this unknown man with a bottle of chemicals had basically saved multiple lives from toxic wine holy shit, this is a rabbit hole

[@GriffinPilgrim]

And never claimed credit. You gotta admire the integrity.

[@fantage20012]

@@GriffinPilgrim tbh I'm sure it also had to do with the fact that if he revealed his id he'd be fired.

[@GriffinPilgrim]

@@fantage20012 Given as he was probably crashing whatever company he worked for I don't know how much that would serve as motivation.

[@Chaotic4Neutral]

@@GriffinPilgrim It seems likely he never identified himself because he was involved in one way or another... it's not like he was some random citizen who just happened to know about a secret kept by most of the entire wine industry.

[@spencermanyet5336]

@@fantage20012 the numbers and money here are so huge he was probably fearing for his life rather than not getting paid to poison people

[@Sabrowsky]

At first I was mad I misread "austria" as "australia" but the Japanese and Chinese governments did the same so its all cool

[@KathrynsWorldWildfireTracking]

G'Day, mate!

[@rachelhallie7483]

My favorite wine is 19 Crimes so if that happened here I'd riot. They may be called 19 Crimes but they committed 0!

[@WhoWantsToKnow81]

There are no kangaroos in Austria.

[@shiblamo1002]

Rachel Hallie They have cool labels on their bottles too. I like that stuff

[@stevenbean9731]

i have been waiting to watch “the Australian wine poisoning” for about four days and now I have an answer as to why everyone keeps talking about German people.

[@Soot5007]

19:27 1) How was the government involved? 2) How could this happen in the first place? 3) Why? The answer? Unregulated capitalism.

[@utzius8003]

Same with the Noricum scandal. The factory was producing and exporting artillery pieces illegally. Everyone knew it, but it was so profitable that no one did anything against it until it became internationally known.

[@s.z7750]

Imagine youre in charge of the Australian export of wine to China and Japan and you wake up with a random ban💀

[@YT-ge6vl]

Imagine: Blaming the customers you poisoned for buying your cheap product.

[@docvolt5214]

Apple

[@narbonne7637]

“How could you buy the product I own and made me tons of money? You are to blame, take responsibility, idiot”

[@fenrirsrage4609]

The more things change. The more things stay the same eh?

[@WJINTL]

How dare you buy the poison I marketed as wine. Shame on you. How could you do such a thing?

[@MahouKat]

@white How?

[@Dther99]

"Government looking to cheaply dispose of antifreeze wine" That one cement company that couldn't afford antifreeze: *kewlont*

[@Ohnonoki]

I dont know why but this is way funnier on the second read

[@ghoulbuster1]

haha red juice make machine cold

[@Sandux930]

Cold juice cold masheen

[@hawktalon7890]

That sums it up lmao

[@channel5980]

LOL Meme Man language.

[@baasparkopenings851]

"Japan and China also ordered a ban on the sale of Australian wine, due to the countries' similar names" LOL thank god im not the only one who keeps misreading this title as "the Australian wine poisoning"

[@JiveDadson]

In the summer of 2005, I was the beneficiary of an unscheduled paid vacation in Austria, when a shipping company mistakenly sent a robot from my employer in the US to Australia. True story.

[@redvelvetunderground]

i'm cracking up at the wine producers who added sugar to their already poisoned wines to enhance the flavor. like, if you were going to do that then why did you even bother putting glycol into your wine in the first place? lol

[@The_Andyman]

This whole fiasco seems to be one long "but wait, there's more!"

[@The_Andyman]

Order now, and you can get another Hades free!

[@merrittanimation7721]

"And then they sunk lower."

[@LeonardoAddingtonLeo]

Just a horror house with a neverending series of doors lol

[@TomboTime]

This could be said about ANY down the rabbit hole episode

[@Tinlion09]

That's the best kind of fiasco right there.

[@BirdieLouise]

I'm European and I had no idea what you were talking about, until you mentioned antifreeze wine. The elderly here in the Netherlands still use this term to this day to describe shitty wine. It's rare though.

[@vbence12]

Huh I guess it's just an Europe thing. Here it was "cow dung" wine. Supposedly because that's what they used instead of grapes

[@GodsWheat]

I legit only heard about this only from the Simpson since I live in the former soviet block

[@Autechltd]

Its like Austria has some kind of Vendetta against the French. Started WW1, then Hitler, then they went out of their way to fuck with wine.

[@adrenalinevan]

You should keep that slang up so nobody forgets the horrific story

[@quantumimmortality551]

Imagine being the greedy factory owner that tried to write off the chemicals as a work expense for his tractor

[@wind_reader]

I love how the wine poisoning led to a complete overhaul of the detection methods the chemists used lol

[@zachanikwano]

Honestly hearing how the wine companies tried to hide their poisoned goods and just gloriously f*cking it up and revealing themselves instead? Soothes the soul.

[@rabidfurify]

It's funny because one company dumping their poison wine probably wouldn't have had such an immediate effect but they all did it at the same time

[@lavenderhuman]

Peak comedy honestly

[@TheBlackRodent]

@@rabidfurify something something tragedy of the commons

[@danielyahalom3961]

the real austrian wine was the friends we made along the way

[@YAH2121]

It's all about family

[@oswaldfigglebottom]

But they all have brain damage now

[@liaml.e.5964]

@@oswaldfigglebottom But as a Family

[@EmperorSigismund]

The real poisoning was the friends we made along the way.

[@DeathSithe92]

And ALLLLthe people we poisoned and killed.

[@cephlapap.3817]

*Barges into agricultural institution* *puts a bottle on the table saying it’s full of the chemicals being used to make wine* *refuses to elaborate further* *leaves*

[@hariman7727]

Staying to explain would likely have exposed him to legal action and arrest, unless he managed to make a plea deal or arrange for amnesty. Even if he didn't say anything more than setting the glycol on the table and saying what it was being used for, he still started an investigation that likely stopped the poisoning sooner and saved lives.

[@cephlapap.3817]

@@hariman7727 yes, i realize that. however i was making a joke

[@ShudowWolf]

*Barges into Federal Institute of Agricultural Chemistry* "This is the chemical used to make all the wine." *Refuses to elaborate further.* *Leaves*

[@Jsay18]

Absolute Gigachad.

[@drosera88]

26:41 That's the best defense ever. "Well maybe if you hadn't bought our shitty wine in the first place you wouldn't have gotten poisoned!"

[@Chaotic4Neutral]

That's the worst defense ever, consumers make up the public and public opinion is one of the most important thing to any brand. They must have been really desperate to come to that line of defense, or very stupid.

[@Igorcastrochucre]

The bit near the end seems almost comical: Boss: "We need to mix clean wine with anti-freeze wine to dilute the poison" Employee: "Sir, look around there is no clean wine anywhere, only anti-freeze"

[@shmunkyman33]

Wine, wine everywhere and not a drop to dilute your tainted antifreeze-wine with

[@Arcueid_Brunestud]

@@rudito22 What do you mean you're at antifreeze?!

[@chippydippy1530]

@@Arcueid_Brunestud I MEAN I'M AT ANTIFREEZE

[@LieseFury]

it's like something from the simpsons

[@winterwolf6910]

“WHAT STORE ARE YOU IN?!” “IM IN THE ANTIFREEZE STORE!!!” “WHY ARE YOU BUYING WINE FROM THE A N T I F R E E Z E S T O R E?!!!”

[@empi4106]

I really like how you take the time to be super informative on the topic at hand. It really helps the viewer to get the full picture of the scenario.

[@Anon_Spartan]

Whenever I see this thumbnail it makes me think of Carl from Aqua Teen Hunger Force. "My wine's antifreeze coolant content is NONE OF YOUR FREAKIN' BUSINESS."

[@dalemoss4684]

When mum went grocery shopping she got my dad a 2 litre cask of cheap port. She'd say "here's your box of antifreeze" Now I get it

[@RealDSY]

Are you an austrian or did this phrase travel further then i realized

[@Gambit771]

@@RealDSY I'm in the UK and still hear cheap plonk being referred to as antifreeze. I used to joke about putting it in my car during winter.

[@dalemoss4684]

@@RealDSY no Australian ironically. I think it maybe got publicity here at the time because of the name mix-up and Australian wines being suspect idk

[@omirandao7958]

I've heard people call extra cheap alcohol that's often consumed by homeless people antifreeze. Never knew where the phrase came from

[@Pop013]

@@omirandao7958 we call it vinegar

[@GregariousBant]

You know it's gonna be a good Down the Rabbit Hole when you're less than 10 minutes in and already can't understand how it could get any worse. It always does.

[@futureshock382]

Wouldn't be called a rabbit hole if it didn't get worse

[@willywimpy6026]

Holy cow I thought I was at least half way through this video when I was reading this comment and I realized I was only nine minutes and fifty five seconds in!!!

[@r3uvsgaming]

As Jeremy Clarkson always says "What could possibly go wrong?"

[@WhatTheVoice]

Great video! As an Austrian born in the 90s I had heard about this but I had no idea about the scale of this scandal. I found your channel through the official podcast btw.

[@Nugnugnug]

Austrians be like, "time to put another schnitzel on the barbie!"

[@NekogamiKun127]

*Austrian Winemakers:* We need to avoid adding sugar to our wine, so let's add diethylene glycol instead. *Austrian Winemakers:* And let's add sugar, because if we're already adding poison to our wine, then who really gives a shit anymore.

[@nd77u]

Well that's correct! The who gives a shit vibe is pretty strong here in our corner of the world

[@GymnopedieTornado]

hey thx for thomas bernhard at least

[@MirandaSinistra]

What could go wrong?

[@HannahViera]

Lassi Kinnunen because unlike glycol, aspartame tastes like poison.

[@kelsiday2084]

@Lassi Kinnunen aspartame ironically reacts really poorly in most people ( it gives me fucking killer migraines ) but thus far, it hasn't killed anyone (that I'm aware of) so has managed to stay in a lot of American products even though it is banned in some places and other countries. Not surprised tho. but really I just wanted to say that maybe aspartame wasn't being used as an artificial sweetener yet (were artificial sweeteners even a thing? idk) The other thing is they wanted to use something difficult to trace deliberately, in part so their wine *seemed* very pure when it was literal poison lmao I think if they had used aspartame, it would be 1. fairly easy to detect and 2. aspartame just??? isnt even that sweet. Idk how sweet glycol is but i don't intend on finding out :)

[@DK3CHAMP]

I remember the old Simpsons episode where a pair of frenchmen poisoned their wine with antifreeze. I had no idea that this was based on this. I thought the plot line was absurd because I didn't think any company would do something as crazy as this.

[@dannylamb456]

Reality is sometimes unrealistic

[@PaulRudd1941]

Aha, this is where I thought about another top comment "the secret ingredient is crime". Cheers.

[@idromano]

@@dannylamb456 this is the best phrase I could've seen today. Thank you

[@nutsackvlogz8892]

i can now deduce that reality is not just a simulation but more specifically a sitcom

[@edwingonzalez7691]

@@nutsackvlogz8892 a really bad sitcom at that

[@Apophoxis]

The quality of this documentary is astounding, please keep up the good work

[@ElArto95]

Here's a fun game: Take a shot every time Fredrik says "diethylene glycol". For more inmmersion, drink wine sweetened with diethylene glycol.

[@zeusrulez]

The real question would be what would you die of first: the diethylene glycol or alcohol poisoning

[@Sisyphos420]

Challenge accepted! Fu, liver!

[@MrCantStopTheRobot]

Best vomiting seizure I ever spent in the fetal position. Thanks!

[@Adamant_Consternation]

I don't knwwwwwwwww thys seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeems tow bee gonging pourrrrrlyyyy.

[@9a912]

"inmmersion"

[@spot1401]

There was a joke in Germany back then. 'give me some antifreeze will ya?' -' sure would that be Red or white?'

[@alexanderholzer7392]

'n bisschen Frostschutz bidde

[@EinFelsbrocken]

Frosdshudds hea; Leude; aber dalli!

[@LeatherCladVegan]

Ah yes, that famous German 'sense of humour'.

[@adamfrazer5150]

Mass-production : the death knell for things like quality and advantages like direct interaction with the seller, face to face transactions. We're going to Starbuck and Wal-Mart ourselves into a thin, bland paste 😐

[@WHITEDIRTV]

The profound statement alluding to what's next -> then fade to black... is exquisite. Pulls me further in each time. Even harder to pull off in KZbin format. Great job

[@ngwoo]

This is why no industry can ever be trusted to self-regulate.

[@genli5603]

Underwriter's laboratory does it excellently well. It's a third party used by many industries.

[@Valandix]

@@genli5603 I just have to search 2min to find that first UL doesn't approve anything and even themselves reassure that only an official body (So a state) can approve a product. UL is marketing himself as a marketing tool for companies rahter than servicing consumers. And they seems to focus more on their for-profit services than non-for-profits one Too bad, that we can usually trust more a system based on people's legitimacy than only profit from consumer base.

[@dejiko]

​@@victorvaida4272 Wishing death upon others for having a different opinion? You seem like a nice fellow.

[@BenDover-ht5nv]

i expected that from cat

[@BenDover-ht5nv]

ngwoo I wonder what an industry can learn from killing there consumers

[@Omnywrench]

"...anyvey, zat's how I lost my alcohol license."

[@tylerlackey1175]

Ahaha what a story hans

[@emilpersidski]

"Zey found antifreeze in his wine, and ze brewer was never heard from again!"

[@jjayala5512]

"Now... Hehe, Let's go practice wine-making."

[@Alabenson]

You see, sandvich, this is why I drink vodka.

[@addiction2409]

“Livers grow back!” *turns away* “No they don’t”

[@AbsoluteHaven]

I've always wanted to know about this disaster, but never found as much information as I wanted to, including all the backstory and the consequences in such detail. Kudos to you for making a crystal clear and still really interesting!

[@sushicat999]

Wow, this is so interesting. Now I wanna write a murder mystery story were the killer poisons their victim using "an old bottle of austrian wine"

[@bladesandswords6136]

I’m still wondering who that random guy was. The mans a hero

[@patrickfrost9405]

Doing the work of Dionisus

[@equidistanthoneyjoy7600]

My best guess is that it was a blackmailer. Someone that had previously worked at a winery that was putting the stuff into their wine got fired for whatever reason, tried to threaten his former boss into paying for silence and the boss said no. If he was acting out of genuine altruism, he'd have approached the authorities in a less flamboyant way and also wouldn't have hidden his identity. I think this guy clearly wanted to brew a shitstorm, which is why he did it the way he did.

[@shanethebard3339]

to brew a massive shit storm out of cheap poisoned wine... it's poetic.

[@arandom35yearold]

@@equidistanthoneyjoy7600 Yes because publicly doing this to an entire industry with your identity for all to know is a really good idea. They were willing to poison their costumers, you think they wouldnt kill the whistleblower had his identity been known?

[@user-fe8gx3ie5v]

Not a hero, but a thoughtful guy.

[@HelloKittyfouronesix]

Everything makes sense now. When I lived in Germany in the mid to late 90s, I use to go to this castle that was near where I lived. They had a yearly wine event in the courtyard. I use to go but hated dry wine. So I asked if there were any sweet ones. I got the funniest looks, and I didn't know why. I didn't speak German well and they didn't speak English at all. So I just chucked it up of me mispronouncing what I was saying. No. It was because of poisonings.

[@lnplum]

I'm German and I absorbed the cultural knowledge that "sweet wine is cheap garbage mixed with sugar and antifreeze that give you headaches" before I was even of drinking age. I never understood where the prejudice against sweet wine came from.

[@Valandix]

@@lnplum Here in Belgium, we do have strong prejudices against against german/austrian beer and wine and this scandal didn't help to change that, and plus this is still in the mind of people, per example : Not long ago, my grandpa just stated that the germans can't make wine without pourring garbage in it.

[@wildfire9280]

​@@Valandix The virgin wine vs. the chad BEER

[@ali.e7860]

@Jay Morgan well no one is arguing that American beer is trash

[@heinousdickanus6040]

@Ilja Permiakov no, its really not. In most places in the world out the strongest of our "beer" would be considered light beer. Bad light beer at that. Ive lived here my whole life and i still cant palate any kind of beer from here.

[@Bondokill]

Bro these Down the Rabbit Hole videos are so good. I didn't have any interest in over half of the topics before watching. But them but every single one of them was still fantastic. And yes I watched every single one of them. Amazing content. I hope more are coming!

[@4Usuality]

One of the kind of few videos on your channel that has a happy ending haha, thanks again! Well researched and great!