40 years ago Austria wineries got caught sweetening wine with antifreeze, nearly killing the industry (and their customers)

Image by Peter Rollos from Le Centre de l'amour: decouvert soubs divers emblesmes galans et facetieux, (ca. 1687) (Public Domain)

In 1985, Austrian winemakers faced a problem: Their wines weren't sweet enough for the German market's taste. Rather than adding corn syrup like normal criminals, they mixed in diethylene glycol, aka antifreeze. The chemical m…