28 wineries accused of using arsenic in wine
(CBS SF) — There may be a reason to think twice before you sip – a lawsuit filed in California Thursday contends some top-selling wines contain high levels of arsenic.
Kevin Hicks is the man behind BeverageGrades, a Denver lab that analyzes wine. Before launching the lab, Hicks spent 15 years in the wine business.
Because there are very few federal labeling requirements telling you what’s in the wine you drink, Hicks decided to test some brands himself. His results are shocking.
He tested more than 1,300 bottles of wine and found almost a quarter contained levels of arsenic higher than the Environmental Protection Agency’s maximum limit for drinking water of 10 parts per billion. In some cases he says the wines contained up to four and five times that amount.
So far there is no theory on why this might be happening but Hicks’ tests showed an interesting pattern. “The lower the price of wine on a per-liter basis, the higher the amount of arsenic,” he said.
Hicks’ list of low-priced, high-arsenic wines includes Trader Joe’s famous Two-Buck Chuck White Zinfandel which tested at three times the limit. A bottle of Menage a Trois Moscato was four times the limit and a Franzia Blush had five time the EPA limit for drinking water.
Not surprisingly, Hicks said the wine companies he approached were not happy with him or the tests. Then he took the results to a law firm. Attorney Brian Kabateck says they took Hicks’ original test results to two separate labs and they “absolutely” stand up. And that’s what they argue in the class action lawsuit. They’re accusing more than 24 California winemakers and sellers of misrepresenting their wines as safe.