Sovio Wines, a small wine company that makes a lighter style wine with 40% less alcohol than most mainstream wines, was recently granted permission to go to the High Court next month to challenge Food Standard Agency rulings that banned Sovio’s sale in 2007. This is despite Government policy which has been urging more sensible drinking for some time and the ever increasing level of wine alcohols which has been heavily criticized in the industry.

Sovio Wines Ltd. based in Farnborough, Hampshire, was pleased with a successful first round in its legal battle with the Food Standards Agency, which originally claimed the wine is “illegal” under EU law. Over the objections of the FSA, a High Court judge granted permission for Sovio’s claim for a formal Judicial Review of the FSA’s actions to proceed to a full hearing, now scheduled for February 9th . The company says the FSA’s “conduct and attitudes” fly in the face of Government measures to crack down on excessive drinking and the UK’s booze culture. Not only that, says Sovio, but the FSA was just “plain wrong” in its interpretation of EU law.

If successful, Sovio, which has been praised by many wine writers for its quality, could claim hundreds of thousands of pounds in damages. At 8% alcohol, the wine is produced using a technique called the “Spinning Cone Column”. This reduces the level of alcohol and yet ensures the wine retains the quality of taste, flavour and body of regular wines. Part of Sovio’s case is testimony from senior Brussels officials contradicting the FSA. Whereas the FSA has declared the Spinning Cone is not a legal technique and breaches Brussels regulations, the EU regulators themselves have confirmed the technique is a perfectly legitimate means of making Sovio, at its 8% alcohol level.

Nonetheless, it was partly on these grounds that the FSA issued a 2007 order banning Sovio wine from being sold. This has left thousands of cases of the semi-sparkling white and rose wine locked away in a warehouse for the past 18 months.