MARKETING

It's about wine

Expect some Americans to whine about a new wine called Le Vin du Coeur. Its developer, Michel Roux, knows that's likely as bottles begin appearing in stores.

Indeed, in a marketing twist that goes a step beyond previous efforts to target gay men and lesbians, the latest vintage from Cotes de Provence features same-sex couples on two labels and an opposite-sex couple on a third.

The rose, which debuted in July and sells for about $10 a bottle, ships in cases in which four bottles picture men, four feature women, and four show a man and a woman. "This is not a wine I want to sell specifically to the gay market," said Roux, chairman and CEO of Crillon Importers Ltd. in Paramus, N.J. "It is a wine to be sold to the open market." And although two-thirds of the bottles feature a same-sex couple, Roux said, "we are making a statement that everybody is on an equal foot in this world. …