The Dregs of a Deadly Scandal

By Gordon M. Henry

Italy's tainted-wine scandal con- tinued to spread in ugly fashion last week. More than five weeks after a number of vintners were first discovered to be adulterating their low-priced table wines with methyl alcohol, which is more commonly used as a paint solvent, at least 22 Italians had died and about 90 others were hospitalized after drinking the contaminated product. As the death toll rose, the Italian government listed some 300 labels as suspect, prompting worldwide concern and threatening the country's $953 million wine-export trade.

In the U.S., where some 73 million gal. of Italian wine are imported every year and sales have been booming, federal officials warned wholesalers and importers not to distribute any Italian wines until samples could be tested for methyl alcohol. Then the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms advised drinkers not to touch Italian wines until tests showed that they were not contaminated. The Italian embassy emphasized that the only products that had so far been discovered to be tainted were cheap varieties that sold in Italy for about $1.50 per gal.

Italy's commercial counselor in Washington, Gerardo Carante, said that only six of the Italian firms whose wines are suspected of being contaminated have shipped products to the U.S.* Nonetheless, BATF Director Stephen Higgins announced that all Italian wine entering this country would have to carry a certificate of purity that the Italian government has begun issuing for bottles cleared for export. Shipments that left Italy before the Rome government began requiring the certificates would be prohibited from entering U.S. markets.

The BATF's warnings prompted many wine sellers across the nation to remove Italian products from their shelves immediately. Among them was Oakland-based Safeway Stores, which sells wine in some 1,200 supermarkets and 104 Liquor Barn stores. Said Safeway Spokeswoman Felicia del Campo: "Nobody could assure us that none of the adulterated wines had reached the U.S." Many other retailers resisted the move, however, pointing out that they did not sell low- grade products or citing confidence in their own distribution systems. Said Louis Iacucci, president of Goldstar Wines & Spirits of Queens, N.Y., the nation's single largest retailer of Italian wines: "The scare was premature, and it has done a lot of harm to some of the great winemakers of the world."

Meanwhile in Rome, the Italian government groped to contain the disaster. At least twelve vintners were arrested on charges ranging from manslaughter and grievous bodily harm to criminal association and illegal adulteration of food. Prime Minister Bettino Craxi announced that any vintner guilty of adulterating wine could have his winemaking license revoked and his profits and equipment + confiscated in addition to facing criminal charges. Agriculture Minister Filippo Pandolfi flew to Brussels, where he convinced leaders of the European Community that no ban on Italian imports was necessary. In the Vatican, authorities announced that the purity required of sacramental wine made it safe to consume for both priests and communicants.

Despite these efforts, there was no doubt that Italy had suffered a traumatic blow. In Denmark, where a 6,613-gal. shipment of cheap Italian vermouth was found to contain dangerous amounts of methyl alcohol, officials issued a ban on all Italian wines. West Germany imposed border controls requiring Italian wine imports to be cleared by government chemists. And in France, the government seized 4.4 million gal. of suspect wine and dumped at least 1.3 million gal. Clearly, it would be a long time before the world's consumers fully recovered their confidence in one of Italy's best-known and most widely distributed products.

FOOTNOTE: *The six: Baroncini of Solarolo, Ravenna; Biscardo of Calmasino, Verona; Cauda of Cuneo, Piedmont; Mascarello of La Morra, Piedmont; Ricordi of Piave, Treviso; Tombacco of Trebaseleghe, Padua.

With reporting by Marsha Dubrow/Washington and Walter Galling/Rome