It was just over two years ago as a Växjö resident Shahram Soltani started the production of a Persian wine and earlier this year it was clear that Systembolaget would include it in its range.
But now the drink is being stopped – which must be destroyed, following a decision from the Swedish Food Agency, which SVT Småland was the first to report on.
– This is completely crazy. A nightmare. I risk going bankrupt, says Soltani to the channel.
The grapes are imported from Iran
The grapes come from the well-known wine district of Shiraz in Iran and more specifically from the Zagros Mountains. They are imported frozen and the drink is then manufactured outside Växjö.
And this is where the problem lies, according to the Swedish Food Agency.
Drinks called “wine” may not be made from grapes imported from countries outside the EU.
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Changed the name of the drink
For that very reason, a manager at Systembolaget pointed out that Shahram Soltani’s drink could not be called wine.
– So we called it “fruit wine” and “alcoholic beverage from grapes”, says Shahram Soltani to SVT Småland.
New labels were created and the drink was moved to another shelf at Systembolaget.
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Swedish Food Agency: “Fruit wine is made from other fruits”
But the measures are not enough. The Swedish Food Agency’s decision states that Shahram Soltani may not use the imported grapes to make a drink with any other name “in the same way as wine”.
– Because an alcoholic drink made from grapes cannot be called anything other than wine. Fruit wine can be made from other fruits, they say Karin Cereniushead of unit at the Swedish Food Agency, to the channel.
The Swedish Food Agency therefore prohibits the manufacture. Soltani has appealed the case, but pending the court’s decision, he is not allowed to complete the production that has already begun.
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