The burgeoning low-alcohol wine category has been dealt a blow by a Food Standards Agency ruling that two brands were in breach of EU regulations.

The FSA's Wine Standards Branch imposed a movement control order on DB Wines' Spanish Sovio brand last week and has demanded Tesco withdraw bottles of its French Plume wine from shelves. Both contravene EU winemaking regulations, claimed the FSA, although DB Wines has appealed successfully against the ruling.

"The wine-making methods defined by the EU do not allow for alcohol content to be reduced artificially through processes such as the spinning cone or reverse-osmosis methods," said an FSA spokeswoman.

"There are some exceptions. In France and Spain artificial processes have been approved as an experimental wine-making practice but sales are restricted to domestic markets. The other applies to US wines made in this way, which thanks to a bilateral agreement can be sold in Europe."

DB Wines has managed to exempt Sovio, which is made using the spinning cone. It argued that, at just 8% abv, the wine falls outside the EU definition that states a wine needs to be 9% abv (aside from some specific German exceptions), and the movement control order has now been lifted. "It's now business as usual for us and we are continuing to roll out Sovio," said DB MD Mark Beasley.

Tesco was unable to comment on Plume because it is still in talks with the FSA. It launched the Domaine la Colombette range, which is made using reverse osmosis and is 9% abv, last month alongside five other low-alcohol wines. The move came as part of a range overhaul after a customer survey revealed 87% of respondents would like a greater choice of low-alcohol wines.

Sainsbury said its low-alcohol range was all made using natural methods, such as early harvesting, and was unaffected. Asda said its wines were also unaffected.

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