10 Wines Under $20 To Bring To A Holiday Party

The cool thing is you can bring the perfect bottle without hurting your wallet (even more so) during the holiday season. If you can knock your friends and family out with your savvy wine picking skills, even better. What's more satisfying than someone liking what you brought so much they want to buy it themselves?

These 10 wines will each please you, your guests, and your bank account. It's time to get ready for the best of the holidays, so get the most out of reasonably priced wine with these options.

Cabernet is kind of like chardonnay in that every gathering will have a few people who prefer it over all else, so you can't go wrong bringing a tasty one to a party. This cabernet has lots of red berry fruit and some firmness to it, too. It drinks well all by itself but it'll stand up to prime rib, too. You'll have a hard time finding more cabernet for $20 aside from this one.

This is another wine that will surprise a lot of your friends because they may not be familiar with the grape; but they should be. This marsanne is delicious and distinct. Toasted hazelnut aromas are really inviting. Apricot and peach flavors provide lots of juicy fruit. Minerals and hints of honey make this wine so hard to resist. If you bring this to a party, bring two bottles — it'll be gone fast!

Sauvignon blanc is one of the most food friendly grapes on the planet; which is reason enough to bring it to a party. This example from the oldest winery in Napa Valley is a rock star wine at a blue collar price. This is a fantastic wine with really nice citrus aromas. It has peach, papaya, and pear flavors throughout. Things finish up with white pepper, grapefruit, and lime zest. Serve it as a welcome wine when your guests walk in or drink it all night at the party, it's just delicious.

There's a ton of malbec out there under $20, but this one blows most of them away. First of all it tastes like malbec — don't laugh, some of them don't — and it has got all sorts of dark fruit aromas and flavors. Plus it'll go well with all kinds of food from chili to mac and cheese and even dark chocolate. It's a great value. To read about more wines from Kaiken head over to Gabe's View.

Pinot noir is one of the single hardest grapes to find good values in. When one comes along that defies that, I take note. Cherry aromas are followed by strawberry and rhubarb flavors here. Cinnamon, clove, more red fruit, and a hint of cocoa come out on the finish. This is a very nice example of pinot for the price. No one is going to believe you paid less than $20 for this let alone $12.

What better to bring to a party than a grape variety your friends probably aren't familiar with? Chenin blanc is the signature white grape of South Africa and this one is fun and delicious. It smells like white flowers and toasted hazelnut, but tastes like peach, apricot, and nectarine. At the end you get a little bit of sweet creaminess. Click here to read more about wines from Indaba.

Carménère is Chile's signature grape, and they do it as well as anyone. For years, a lot of vines that were carménère were thought to be merlot — a cool fact to pull out when you uncork this bottle. This wine is loaded with classic carménère character right from the start. Savory herbs are wrapped around juicy purple fruit flavors from the first whiff all the way through the last sip. Along the way, spice notes and hints of cocoa are present as well.

Cupcake makes a number of really interesting wines that are good for a party. This is their latest, just released selection. A lot of red blends in this price range are sweet; some are almost syrupy. Not so here. This wine is loaded with dark and brooding fruits. From the moment you stick your nose on the glass, until the last sip is gone, dark is the operative word. It's a fun, inexpensive wine that tastes good, and the name Black Forest makes it all seem a bit mysterious. Blackberry and black cherry flavors rule the day here — so, who's ready for some Black Forest cake?

Chardonnay is the most popular white grape in the world, so if you bring this to a party, someone (or several someones), will be interested. For $10, this is a really good value. It has apple aromas and a little bit of smoke. When you taste it, you'll get apple and pear flavors and a bit of pie crust. This is a tasty and refreshing wine. Pair it with some cheese for a quick and fun match.

Start with the name and the packaging and move over to the flavors and you're loved ones will all be thrilled you bought this!. Lots of sour red and black cherry flavors abound here. This is a beautifully dry red blend that goes down easy. It'll pair with something as quick as sausage pizza or as time-consuming as pernil. It's a delightful blend that will be a huge party hit.  Evil Eye would be a great choice to buy a case of as stocking stuffers or as secret Santa gifts.