Back in January, I wrote about the trend towards a new breed of blended red wines priced in their teens that have catchy names like Apothic Red, Primal Roots and 19 Crimes.

All of them are proving to be most popular.

I can think of no red wine from Bordeaux that is not a blend of up to five grape varieties, but today I want to mention higher-end blended wines from the Americas. In the United States, if you wish to name a wine after a grape variety ie cabernet sauvignon, then it must contain a minimum of 75 per cent of that grape type.

One year a winery may decide to meet this percentage but the next may be one where merlot has ripened perfectly and they would like to use 40 per cent merlot. What do they do? Well, to give them some leeway they just make up a name and stick to it year after year.

To give the blends that use the standard Bordeaux varietals a category name, a contest was held back in 1988 with the prize being wine from all the producers that took part. The winning name was “meritage” and today, many belong to the Meritage Association. A few did not join as they felt that it sounded “too French”. Let me tell you about two.

Symmetry 2012 is produced by Rodney Strong Vineyards, who are the first carbon-neutral winery in Sonoma.

They sell power back to the grid with their large solar-powered system and they farm sustainably.

Symmetry is from the Alexander Valley, the most diverse soil area in all of California due to past volcanic and earthquake activity. The wine is a blend of 75 per cent cabernet sauvignon, 13 per cent merlot, five per cent cabernet franc, five per cent malbec and two per cent petit verdot. So for the 2012 vintage this wine could actually have been labelled ‘cabernet sauvignon’.

The combination of soils and grapes gives to us a luxurious bouquet of blackberries, currants, cassis and crushed lavender, which unfold on the palate with silky layers of black fruits, dark chocolate-covered espresso beans and baking spices. This wine is rich, harmonious and elegant with a long, lingering finish.

One wine competition rated it a very good 93/100 and stated that it was always one of the top “meritage” wines in California. $57.55.

By the luck of the draw, another wine that we have in stock contains 79 per cent cabernet sauvignon in the 2011 vintage, but again, to be free to blend depending on the conditions of a single year, they choose to call it Magnificat.

I refer to Franciscan Estate Magnificat 2011 from Napa Valley. It also contains 12 per cent merlot, six per cent petit verdot and three per cent malbec.

Magnificat 2011 is a complex mélange of cassis, plum and mocha. The beautiful and inviting aroma opens further to reveal notes of peppercorn, black olive, sage and tobacco. [It is] elegant and rich with cherry and blackberry fruit followed by fine, supple tannins and a velvety mouthfeel; notes of cocoa, crème de cassis and black truffle complement the complex fruit. A delicious roundness and texture lead to a seamless finish. $62.25.

I do believe that the small producer called Achaval-Ferrer is one of the best, if not the best, boutique wineries in Argentina — all of their wines are wonderful. While we were visiting them in Lujan de Cuyo (part of Mendoza) they informed us that their winemaker was “loco”. Let me explain why.

The common practice worldwide in creating blends are to ferment and age each grape type on its own and then, at a later date, they will be blended together at the discretion of the winemaker. At Achaval-Ferrer, all the grapes are crushed, fermented and aged together. It takes a brave person to do this!

Their blend of malbec, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc and petit verdot is called “quimera”. It is a lovely word as it translates as “in search of the impossible”. As is often the case when we are dining out, my wife had ordered the wine and asked the sommelier to pour me a blind taste: “Certainly seems like very fine bordeaux and at least at the level of the Third Growth in the 1855 classification”.

They got me there as it was actually the 2011 quimera. Wine.com had this to say: “92/100 I was absolutely transformed in time. Just tasting the wine was really grand, but when joined by food it became pure magic! Deep ruby colour, vivid and pure red currant aromas, persistent and fine, medium-bodied. Racy and focused on the palate with long, red fruit finish.” The winemaker talks of black cherry, raspberry, violets and cedar. $44.60.

I should mention that for the month of April I have pre-written these articles to cover the time that I will be travelling the highways and byways of Italy.

New duties are now being paid on wines and our prices will be a mixture of staying the same, going up and in some cases actually being reduced, so please do not hold me to the fire if there are any discrepancies as they should be minor.

This column is a paid-for advertorial for Burrows Lightbourn Ltd. Michael Robinson is Director of Wine at Burrows Lightbourn Ltd. He can be contacted at mrobinson@bll.bm or 295-0176. Burrows Lightbourn has stores in Hamilton (Front Street East, 295-1554), Paget (Harbour Road, 236-0355) and St George’s (York Street, 297-0409). A selection of their wines, beers and spirits is available online at www.wineonline.bm.