This winemaking practice has spread far and wide across the globe in recent decades, finding its most notable New World home in Napa Valley, California. In the 1970s and 1980s, Napa producers were frustrated by labeling laws for blended wines and sought to establish a marketable concept unique to their region that would encompass the essence of the blended wines in one catchy term, which gave rise to the "Meritage" category and the Meritage Alliance of wine growers. An amalgamation of the words "merit" and "heritage", it's a legally defined classification for both red and white wines, based principally on the blending regulations of Bordeaux. There are now over 200 member producers, most based in the U.S., but representation can be found as far afield as Argentina and Australia.

A caveat and a strength of the Bordeaux Blend class has been its nebulous definition. While it's pretty strictly defined in the Old World, New World producers have found much more leeway in its usage, applying it to all manner of Cabernet- or Merlot-based blends, whether they contain only the permitted Bordeaux varietals or others such as Zinfandel, Syrah, or Sangiovese. This carries the two-fold effect of a) promoting a particular style rather than region and keeping pace with the ever-changing landscape of modern wine tastes; but also b) an explosion of wines bearing the term with no real measure or assurance of quality and stylistic tendency.

Still, the practice is constantly evolving, and with more and more producers concentrating on quality over quantity, blending these varietals will continue to be an integral aspect of contemporary winemaking.