Vin Vif 2025 Red Blend, Central Coast – November's Wine of the Month!

"Playfulness and quality are not opposites."​

For all the enthusiasm over “Red Blends”, it really gets confusing sometimes.  After all, Opus One is a red blend, as is Vieux Telegraphe Chateauneuf-du-Pape.  Yet they taste nothing alike.  One is inspired by red Bordeaux, the other is an actual Rhone wine.

But there is another type of “Red Blend”, the kind we used to refer to as a “generic red”, where winemakers are not constrained by Bordeaux or Rhone templates, but decide to be creative with the grapes they use.  Such is Vin Vif’s (pronounced vahn-veef) irresistible red, a small-production glass of fun made by Xavier Amaudin, the talent behind the successful Union Sacré lineup.

The blend here is 60% Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon from Estrella, 30% Santa Ynez Valley Sangiovese from Camp 4 vineyard and 10% Teroldego from Loma de Rio vineyard in the San Bernabe AVA in Monterey County.  (Teroldego is a lighter-bodied, fresh tasting red grape originating in northern Italy’s Trentino region.)

The label describes the wine so we don’t have to.  “Notes of Pepper, Lavender, Cranberry, Red Currant.  Fresh & Happy.  The Perfect Plus One.”  Remember the cranberry part when looking for a Thanksgiving wine. 

We loved the aroma and the juicy, medium-bodied, joyful, fun fruit in this wine.  It’s not meant to be a contemplative wine, just enjoyable.  It’s the kind of wine we used to quaff in the 1970s when good wine came in magnums and jugs and we drank it with all the foods you were eating in those days—cheap and fast!