Lawsuit Filed Over Arsenic in California Wines

March 23, 2015 – A number of popular inexpensive wines were found to contain quite high levels of arsenic when tested recently.  The news has lead to hyperbole by some news organizations. Suggesting something like “a glass of wine may not be healthy; it may kill you” grabs attention but it is irresponsible.   Here’s what is going on:

A lawsuit was filed on behalf of four California residents in Los Angeles Superior Court on March 19 naming 28 wineries whose wines tested abnormally high for arsenic content.  The suit seeks class action status, unspecified damages, and a halt to production of the tainted wines.  There are no claims of anyone dying.

It all started when Kevin Hicks, owner of BeverageGrades, a Denver-based laboratory that analyzes wine, decided to test 1,306 different bottles of wine for arsenic.  What prompted this is unclear.  Mr. Hicks had previously worked in the wine distribution business.  Out of the 1,306 tested bottles, 83 were found to have levels of arsenic higher than the 10 parts per billion allowed by the EPA for drinking water..

There are no Federal guidelines for allowable percentages of arsenic in wine, or other food and beverages because they are not consumed at the same level as water. So to use water as a comparison is disingenuous and misleading.
Wine Institute, a trade organization representing more than 1,000 California wineries and affiliated businesses, said the allegations were false and misleading and that all wines in the marketplace are safe.  Spokeswoman Gladys Horiuchi pointed out that while the U.S. does not have specific acceptable levels for arsenic in wine, other countries do and California wines have never come close to exceeding those levels.  For example, the highest reading for a wine in the lawsuit is only half of Canada’s standard of 100 parts per billion for wine.

Arsenic is a naturally occurring element and as yet, no one has offered an explanation as to how it got into the wines.  Ingesting large amounts can kill you, so we believe the producers involved in the suit would be very concerned about the quality of their wines. Kevin Hicks of BeverageGrades claims that when he mentioned arsenic to wine companies, they “literally almost hung up the phone on me.”  That sounds odd to us.  The wineries named in the suit are big companies such as Almaden, Glen Ellen, Menage a Trois, Bandit, Sutter Home, Beringer, Franzia,  Fetzer, Charles Shaw (Trader Joe’s Two Buck Chuck) and others.  Not all the wines from these companies and the other defendants registered for high arsenic levels.  There were a few reds but most of the wines were white or rosé.  In the case of Trader Joe’s, only the Charles Shaw White Zinfandel was named.

There’ll be lots more hype to come on this story.  Arsenic is serious business but let’s all keep our perspective on this.  Let’s hear from the wineries and experts before jumping to conclusions or worse, giving up that lovely glass of wine.