Blended Wines - The Wines, Wineries And Their Blends

What is a blended wine?  A blended wine is one that contains more than one grape variety, has been specified by the winery as a blend, and has a name on the wine label unique to the specific blend.  From a shopper's point of view, the quickest way to identify a blended wine on the shelf is to look at its name.  If it is NOT a varietal grape name, you are likely looking at a blended wine.  A skilled winemaker can bring together the elements of multiple varietal wines to make a blended wine that is greater than its individual parts alone.

If you are looking for information about a blended wine or wanting to find something new to experience, you will probably find it here.

Laura, Ada and Mary Ann Enjoy a Glass of Wine at one of our dinner parties

What is blendedwineworld.com? Blendedwineworld.com is here to educate wine enthusiasts about blended wines and be a source of information about the wines and their wineries.  This site describes blended wines and indicates prices when available.  The really fun part of the site, however, is to be able to research blended wines and their contents.  After looking at the contents of a bunch of blended wines, you begin to understand the rational for the winemaker's selections  You can do this at our searching facility.  If you are new to the site, please take a few minutes to read the query guidance items in the search window (phrases displayed in blue) at Find Blended Wines

What is our long-term goal? The long-term goal of blendedwineworld.com is to be a significant source of information furthering the development of interest in blended wines, giving exposure to wineries making available articles on the topic and creation of blended wines written by the winemakers.

More about blended wines.  In most of the US, a wine containing at least 75% of a single grape variety can be named the same as the grape variety, i.e. cabernet sauvignon, merlot, chardonnay, etc.  Thus, your favorite cabernet sauvignon or chardonnay contains at least 75% juice from the cabernet sauvignon or chardonnay grape.  Many wines labeled with a specific grape variety may contain the juice from other grape varieties, provided the predominant grape for which the wine is labeled is at least 75%.

Without knowing it, Americans are frequently drinking blended wines and enjoying them.  So, here at blendedwineworld.com you can expand your experience and knowledge about wines.

When the winemaker wants to do something creative, and is willing to not use a varietal grape name on the label, he/she is free to create any mix or blend of wines to give the desired result.  Sometimes these wines will be labeled a style associated with old-world wine making names, such as Bordeaux, Rhone or Beaujolais.  The Blended Wine Dictionary contains many of these style names. Blended wines have names like Eros (Sunstone Winery), Intermezzo (Artiste Winery), Oroppas (St. Clement Winery), "Meritage" or just “Red Wine” (wineries such as Cosentino, DeLille, Hendry and many others).  For the most part, these wines are totally strange to many wine enthusiasts, and they tend not to buy them.

The Site. Investigate the descriptions of the varietal grapes used in the wine blends listed in the site.

Links are provided to dictionaries on wines in general, French and Italian wines and a dictionary with pronunciations. 

The Information Menu also leads to a page of books favored by ourselves and our visitors.  One in particular is highly recommended, “Windows on the World Complete Wine Course”, a well written and informative course on experiencing wines. 

Use the Contact Us Menu item to tell us about your favorite book.

Our current focus is to add wines as quickly as possible.  Be sure to read the description of the data on the query page in order to understand the parameters we used for including blended wines in the web site.  We are looking for more blended wines to add to the site.  Our near-term goal is to reach 500 blended wines and then beyond.  California, Washington and Oregon have already contributed over 350 blended wines by late-February 2008 with many more to go.

If you know of blended wines we don't include, please let us know.  You can also use this link to send any information you want, such as what you liked and disliked about the site and suggestions for its improvement.