Brown Brothers CEO Ross Brown has one of Australia's best-selling reds on his hands and he can't believe his luck. "I look at the sales and thank my lucky stars no one else has cottoned on," he says. The wine is Brown Brothers Dolcetto & Syrah 2008 ($16.50, from major liquor outlets) and its success is no accident. "People would come to our cellar door and say they didn't like reds, so we'd ask them how they'd like a red to taste," explains Brown. "They kept using the word 'fruity', so we made a red with a heightened fruitiness."

Fruity is often another word for sweet, and this wine has a cordial-like sweetness. At 11 per cent, it's also low-ish in alcohol and, when chilled, as light and spritzy as it is delicious. Of course, sweet reds aren't entirely new, as anyone who's tried Lambrusco knows. But the Brown Brothers model is fresh and bright, which Lambrusco rarely is.

"Our trick," Brown says, "is to treat Dolcetto & Syrah as if we're making a top-flight cabernet. It keeps us awake at night: how do we make it taste even better?" But Brown's free ride is coming to an end. Sweet reds Pepperjack Stylus and Catching Thieves Dolce have just come out, and there are cleanskin imitations of the Brown Brothers wine. All sweet reds taste better chilled - especially when served with cherry pie.

Catch more of Campbell Mattinson's musings at www.twitter..com/bigredwinebook.