EU ruling allows low-alcohol wines
A new EU ruling means that more low alcohol wines will be available in the UK.
The ruling permits reduced alcohol wines made using techniques such as the spinning cone column and reverse osmosis to remove alcohol will be allowed to be marketed throughout Europe.
The most high profile of these wines has been Sovio — an 8% abv wine drink. The Food Standards Authority had banned Sovio claiming it breached European regulations.
The spinning cone column technique had been legal in France and Spain, where Sovio removes the alcohol, but it is illegal to export it to Britain.
The ruling comes into force this month and carries a number of conditions such as the use of experimental practice must be noted on both the accompanying documentation and wine-making records. The European Commission must be notified of the product and process used.
Producers will still be restricted from reducing the alcohol content of the wine by any more than 2% using these wine making practices.
The Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) has been campaigning for the change for 18 months.
"We are delighted that the European Commission has changed the rules to allow producers and retailers the opportunity to offer customers a wider range of reduced alcohol wines," said WSTA chief executive Jeremy Beadles.
"Customers have been saying for some time that they want more choice and these rule-changes should allow the industry to meet that demand.
"We would also like to thank DEFRA for the all their work supporting us in getting these changes through."
