Highly blended wine boasts unusual, bold taste

M. Cosentino Ol'Red MV may be the most unusual wine I've ever reviewed in this column.

It is a California blended wine containing all sorts of grape varietals, and then made in a Solera style, meaning it also is a blend of vintages from 1997-2003. The "MV" stands for multivintage.

Solera is normally a style of winemaking reserved for the great Madeiras made by the Portuguese, but in this case, well-known winemaker Mitch Cosentino decided to experiment.

He took leftover barrels from several of his wines and let them either sit in the oak casks for extended periods of time, or he used the latest juice in this wine.

The result is quite an interesting wine that has lots of unique character and merits both a top recommendation and kudos for the attempt.

At less than $10, it is easy to try something this cool and unusual. I think it'll go over extremely well. Think zinfandel on steroids.

In the glass, Ol'Red is a deeply opaque blackish-red color from the core out into a dark blood red with a slight tinge on the rim definition and ultrahigh viscosity.

On the nose, which is highly expressive, there are immediate reductive notes from plum compote, zinfandel grape juice, concord jelly, minty, almost exotic spice box components, aged wood, sweet tobacco and molasses, with underlying phenols and earthy minerality.

On the palate, you'll be immediately surprised how mouth-filling and rich this wine is, with layers of sweet black fruit, boysenberry jam, blackberry marmalade and juicy blueberry pie filling character, all on top of yet more reductive, quite stewed black fruit character, cherries jubilee and meat. The midpalate is rich and rewarding with lots of fruit, sweetness and spice, going into a huge finish that bombards the olfactory senses with good chewy black fruit, phenols and sweet tobacco.

There's pretty much no food this wine can't handle, but Cajun cuisine definitely springs to mind. Drink it now through 2012 easily.

Wine: M. Cosentino Ol'Red MV

Grapes: Syrah, merlot, carignane, pinot noir, zinfandel and others

Region: Central Coast, Calif.

Price: $9.99

Gil Lempert-Schwarz's wine column appears Wednesdays. Write him at P.O. Box 50749, Henderson, NV 89016-0749, or e-mail him at gil@winevegas.com.