I am familiar with the Desert Essence brand. I have tried some of their skincare products in the past, & also tried the Desert Essence Lemon Tea Tree shampoo, which I find quite similar to the Italian Red Grape in terms of the effects it has on your hair. A couple years ago I also remember trying the Raspberry shampoo by Desert Essence and liking that one as well.
First of all, the smell of the Italian Red Grape is delicious. Like other reviewers have said, it's scent is like a combination between grape bubble gum and wine. Yummmmmy! Whenever I use this shampoo the scent revives memories of when I was a child having a bubble bath. The bubble bath soap my mother used smells almost identical to this shampoo. Lovely :)
In terms of the effectiveness of the product - I wash my hair every day (really oily hair), & I find that it does a great job of cleaning your hair, very much like the Lemon Tea Tree shampoo. However, I find that the Lemon Tea Tree formula cleans a little bit better, probably because of the oil-removing properties of the tea tree oil and the lemon peel extract. The Italian Red Grape shampoo ranks a little bit higher than the Lemon Tea Tree shampoo in term of effects to the shine and softness of your hair. All I really ask of a shampoo is to clean my scalp and hair & leave it soft and shiny with no residue - and this does the job.
In terms of price, I get this at my local healthfood store and it is around $9.00 which isn't that bad compared to a lot of shampoo brands out there IMO. However, I still think that for the price they could maybe make it so that we get a little more product. For packaging - it is a tube with a cap on the bottom that you can open to squeeze product out. So fairly hygienic. The design on the tube is pretty and simple. =3
Overall, the Desert Essence shampoos that I have tried all perform very similiarly and are fantastic natural shampoos. This is my favourite line of hair products and I would recommend you give them a try :)