The Best Red Blends

Some of the best value in wine today comes from inexpensive red blends, which are simply a combination of different grape varieties. When done well, these blends allow the winemakers to essentially take the best of each variety and combine them for what is often much greater than the sum of its parts.

Most red blends these day tend to fall into two categories -- the more traditional dry blends which can come from both Old World (France, Italy, Spain, etc.) and New World (Argentina, South Africa, Chile, New Zealand, etc.) producers. Then there are the ever popular, slightly sweeter (and usually fairly cheap) red blends. These are mostly a California creation but are increasingly found everywhere. Typically not overly sweet, these wines leave a bit of residual sugar in the mix. Extremely popular wines like Apothic Red, Cocobon, Cupcake Red Velvet and others fall into this group.

In this category we highlight the best red blends under $20 in both of those distinct styles so you can decide what you like best! Only those wines that can deliver exceptional quality for the price are reviewed here.

And one last note if you're skeptical of blended wines -- laws in many areas allow a wine to be labeled as a single variety if it contains as little as 75% of that variety. This means your favorite single variety wine might already be a red blend!