I recently completed a massive renovation of the Wine list at Avalon Golf and Country CLub at Squaw Creek. I tasted almost 80 wines over a 3 month period and wound up with 34 new additions. One thing that stood out during the tasting process was the large number of blends the wine companies were bringing me to consider.

Blends seem to increase in popularity each year with US and Valley wine consumers, and I ended up adding more of them than other classification during this round of sampling and reviewing. One of the cool things about blends is that almost every country makes them, as evidenced by the list below.

Here's alook at my top five blends from this recent round of tasting:

1. 2012 Kokomo Red Wine Cuvee (Sonoma County, CA) $25

Elegant yet bold with beauftifully integrated layers of fruit and subtle spice.

2. 2011 California Republic Red Cuvee (Dry Creek Valley, CA) $20

Juicy cherry and ripe raspberry with floral aromatics and a slight hint of terroir.

3. 2012 Las Rocs Red Blend (Catalayud, Spain) $18

An excellent reflection of Spanish blending tradition. Full bodied with great structure.

4. 2010 Pilllar Box Red Blend (Padthway, Australia) $18

A shiraz based blend with dark fruits, refined tannins and a peppery finish.

5. 2010 Norton Privada (Mendoza, Argentina) $28

60 % Malbec, 20% Cabernet, 20% Merlot all nicely interwoven. Great balance.

I hope you havethe chance to try these wines for yourself. All are available in our Valley, so if your store or restaurant doesn't cuurently have them, they can certainly get them for you. Cheers and Bon Appetite!