Red Blends: The Winemaker’s Playground
If you’ve ever stood in front of a wine list and felt paralyzed by choice, you’re not alone. When I hit that paralysis, a red blend is often my go-to. Why? Because blends are built for balance. They’re crafted to showcase the best of multiple grapes, smoothing out the rough edges and weaving together flavors in a way that’s welcoming, layered, and endlessly interesting.
We love making classic single-varietal wines like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Syrah almost every year. But many of our most distinctive, taste-driven wines are blends, each one designed with intention and a clear vision based on our guests’ feedback for over 25 years.
So How is it Done?
Admittedly, the art of blending is one of the most creative parts of winemaking that our team at Kiepersol relishes. It’s not just mixing grapes (and there’s no actual blender). It’s careful experimentation, tasting trials, and sensory decisions made at various stages in the wine’s production. This is where the bench trials come in: we taste each varietal on its own, assess its strengths and edges, run side-by-side tests with different proportions, and imagine what harmony or tension they might yield.
In these trials, one grape might offer structure, another specific aromatics, another freshness or a little more color, and we explore how they interact. Over time, you learn which combinations consistently elevate one another. Because no vintage is the same, those trials might lead to different proportions each year. That’s part of why every one of our blends feels like a limited edition. You can’t replicate the precise weather, sunshine, or vineyard story from any other year. That wine you have in your glass tonight is literally time and place captured in a bottle.
Signature Blends
These blends are where Kiepersol’s creativity comes alive. We’ve built a portfolio of blends that each tell a part of our story:
Mengsel – Our Bordeaux-style red blend (typically Merlot and Cabernet, but you never know when another grape might strike our palates here). It’s rich, balanced, and one of the cornerstones of our red lineup. And Mengsel literally translates to ‘mixture’ in Afrikaans.
Artize – Though we don’t grow Pinot Noir here, this blend is made with the Pinot or Burgundy drinker in mind. It’s elegant, red-fruit driven, nuanced.
Texique® – The tribute blend, bottled only when a vintage shows “significance, grace, and character.” It carries that deeply personal, limited-edition spirit.
Barrel No. 33 – A signature house-style blend and one of our most acclaimed wines.
Power Red Blend – Bold and concentrated. A reminder of how blending gives us permission to push intensity while staying balanced.
Each of these blends represents a balance: between varietals, vintages, and our winemaking team’s vision.
Travel, Inspiration & the Global Blend Tradition
One of the joys of winemaking is learning from the world’s great wine regions. When we travel or taste broadly, we see how masterful blending traditions underpin the wines we admire. That inspires us when we return home to East Texas, asking ourselves: “What can we adopt? What can we reinterpret? What is ours to do?”
We see creative kinship in the classic blends of the world:
Bordeaux, France – red blends of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and more, building complexity and tension. Think Château Margaux (Left Bank, Cabernet-driven) or Château Cheval Blanc (Right Bank, Merlot/Cab Franc blend).
Rhône, France – GSM (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre) blends that speak of spice, structure, and earth. Think Châteauneuf-du-Pape, a cult-favorite wine that can use up to 13 varietals.
Super Tuscans, Italy – daring blends that break rules to build fresh classics. Think Tignanello (by Antinori), the first Super Tuscan to gain global fame.
California & New World Red Blends – many top-tier wines are blends in disguise, where winemakers sculpt a signature style vintage after vintage. Think Opus One (joint venture of Mondavi and Rothschild), one of the most iconic New World Bordeaux-style blends.
When we look at those examples, we let them push us to our own voice. Our blends might echo the imagination of Bordeaux or Rhône, but they’re rooted in East Texas sunlight, soil, and intention.
Why Should Red Blends Matter to You?
For many wine lovers, red blends strike the sweet spot: they bring harmony, depth, and accessibility all in one glass. At Kiepersol, blends let us speak to more palates, and also give us flexibility to reflect vintage character without sacrificing quality.
This Texas Wine Month, I invite you to taste across our blends and varietals, side by side. Let your palate decide what resonates: the purity of a single grape or the expressive story of a blend.
Kelly Doherty is the Branding and Marketing Director of Kiepersol. A photographer, graphic designer, and writer at heart, the winery and vineyard are the inspired backdrop for Kelly’s creative endeavors.
She holds a WSET Level 3 Award in Wines from the Wine and Spirits Education Trust, is a Certified Specialist of Wine, and loves sharing wine stories.
