FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 03, 2019


Additional Casa de Loco bottled wines may pose risk of exploding, Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control warns

ATC investigation has found Eldon, Mo. manufacturer has 13 additional wine products that were not submitted for registration and evaluation as required by law

The Missouri Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control is warning the public of potential danger posed by 13 more types of bottled wines manufactured by the Eldon, Mo. winery Casa de Loco. Last week, Casa de Loco agreed to stop selling six types of its wine after an unregistered bottle of wine confiscated by ATC exploded. ATC later received multiple reports of Casa de Loco wine bottles exploding.

The additional wines that were never submitted to ATC for product brand registration, which includes review and product evaluation, may bear the names: Area 51 Custom Red, Area 51 Reserve, Human Ink Series, Just Crystal, Maladjusted, Manic Malvazia, Paranoid Pinot, Peach Shine, Redneck Therapy, Simply Marvalous [sic], Straight Jacket Syrah, Trumans Big Red and Zinfandel Port. These wines should not be consumed and should be handled with care and secured.

The initial Casa de Loco wine products that were not submitted to ATC for product registration as required by Missouri law are: Applesauced Wineshine & Moonshine, Bellini Gold, Coming in Hot, Kona Lover Port, OCD, and Peachy Thoughts.

ATC learned of the 13 additional unregistered wines in the course of its continuing investigation of Casa de Loco.

ATC is aware of unregistered Casa de Loco wines being distributed to retailers in the following Missouri locations: Camdenton, Glasgow, Jefferson City, Keytesville, Lake Ozark, Lebanon, Newburg, Osage Beach, Salisbury, Springfield, St. Joseph, St. Robert, Stoutland, Sunrise Beach, Warsaw, and Wright City as well as Wichita, Kansas. The wines may also have been distributed directly by Casa de Loco to consumers at events in other locations.

ATC is aware of one unconfirmed report of a person being injured when an unregistered Casa de Loco wine exploded. ATC has contacted known retailers of Case de Loco wines and suggested removing the unregistered products from their shelves.

“We are continuing to investigate, however, it’s important that anyone who has these unregistered Casa de Loco products take immediate action to prevent injury,” ATC State Supervisor Dorothy Taylor said. “Unless we have already made contact, we ask that any consumer or retailer who has a bottle of the affected Casa De Loco wines to call our offices and report which wine they purchased, along with when and where they made the purchase. The number to call is (573) 751-2964.”

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services is currently investigating Casa de Loco for potential health and sanitation violations at its Eldon manufacturing premises. All of Casa de Loco’s unregistered product that was located was embargoed by DHSS and all of the product was destroyed.

ATC continues to work with the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), a section of the U.S. Department of the Treasury that regulates and collects taxes on alcoholic products.

The issue was discovered by ATC as a result of a routine inspection. After confiscating unregistered wine that was being distributed, a bottle exploded in an ATC evidence storage room. When ATC contacted retailers, it learned of additional explosions, as well as Casa de Loco wine bottles spontaneously breaking and leaking.

 

 



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For more information, call 573-751-5432 or e-mail mike.oconnell@dps.mo.gov