The wine, called Sovio, was marketed as a low-alcohol wine aimed primarily at women. The product was manufactured in Spain and bottled in the UK.
However, the FSA objected to the semi-sparkling wine, claiming that it was made using an unauthorised technique called 'spinning cone' to reduce its alcohol content to 8 per cent.
"Sovio 'wine' uses an experimental technique for the removal of alcohol called 'spinning cone', which is currently not allowed to be sold in the UK, according to regulations set down by Europe," the FSA stated at the time.
The agency blocked the product from being sold in the UK by serving a Movement Control Notice. This meant that the company’s whole stock was impounded, and the company “virtually paralysed” for a year, according to Tony Dann, chairman of Sovio Wines Ltd.
An independent assessor found that the product was in breach of labelling regulations in place at that time.
However Dann says that since Sovio’s 8 per cent alcohol content fell below the EU’s 9 per cent technical standard for wine, the company had approached the FSA’s Wine Standards Board (WSB) three years ago with a request for a ruling on Sovio’s labelling.
The WSB declined this on the grounds that the product was not technically wine, and it therefore had no jurisdiction over it. Rather, Sovio was referred to Trading Standards, which Dann says “allowed a label describing Sovio as a variant of wine and making its actual alcohol content very clear”.
These efforts were recognised by Mrs Justice Dobbs in her ruling, as the company acted in good faith in seeking to clarify how it should label its unique wine product in spite of complex EU and British labelling regulations.
Appeal on the cards
Sovio has since been relaunched under a different label, but Dann said the company is considering an appeal. Moreover, it wants to be allowed to describe the product as “partially dealcoholised wine”.
In October 1998 the European Commission agreed that EU wines using different experimental techniques to reduce the alcohol content could be marketed across Europe, as long as producers followed a number of conditions.
Not a ban
Commenting on the outcome of the hearing, Sarah Appleby, head of wine standards at the FSA, said the agency “is not trying to ban low alcohol wine”.
Rather, she said: “It is a top priority of the Agency to ensure that consumers are given accurate information about food and drink products to ensure that the public is not misled. We will continue to work closely with industry to help them understand and comply with the law.”