Red Blends! The 2023 Guide To The Best Red Blend Wines

Some of the best value in wine today comes from inexpensive red blends, which are simply a combination of different red 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 days 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 a bit sweet, these wines leave (or add) some residual sugar in the mix. Some of the extremely popular mass-markets wines fall into this group.

Click here to get a printable shopping list of the best red blends!

"Bordeaux blends" might be the most famous in this category, usually combining traditional red Bordeaux varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and a few others. Of course, if the wine isn't actually made in Bordeaux, it technically can't be called as such so wineries will typically refer to them as "Bordeaux-style" or alternatively label them as "Meritage", which is the official name for these blends outside of Bordeaux.

In this list we highlight the best of all these styles so you can decide which you prefer! 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, unbeknownst to you!

Read on for our list of The Best Red Blends Under $20!