Secret of Aussie Grenache

At the recent F&W Classic in Aspen I had a chance to sit in on a seminar with bacon-obsessed Australian wine fanatic Dan Philips, an F&W contributing editor and the owner of the Grateful Palate. While telling the crowd about what’s new in Australian wine (Philips predicts Grenache will become the next Shiraz), he also provided some fascinating insight into the thinking behind wine labels. Philips, who has his own line of Australian wines, told us that when he marketed his Barossa Valley Grenache as “Barossa Grenache Red Wine,” he couldn't get it to move off the shelves. But when he renamed it “Bitch” Grenache and gave it a pink label, he sold 8,000 cases in two months.