El Seque Dulce 2017 (375ml)

93 Points | The Wine Advocate, Luis Gutiérrez The 2017 El Sequé Dulce is a sweet fortified Monastrell produced with grapes from Pinoso in a similar style of a Vintage Port. It has 16.5% alcohol and 85 grams of residual sugar, which is a little less alcohol and sugar than in the earlier vintages, making it easier to drink. It has the notes of macerated plums and raisins, with varietal notes of esparto grass, aromatic and expressive, sweet but without excess and keeping the balance and freshness, which is what you want in a sweet wine. It has fine tannins and is long and persistent. It matured in 500-liter oak barrels for two years. 2,500 bottles were filled in September 2021. In 2021, I tasted the wines from El Seque, the property in Alicante from Artadi in the zone of Rioja (Laguardia), as part of the tasting of their annual portfolio. The report was published at the end of 2021, but I have included the reviews here again for context and completeness. When I tasted the 2019s and 2020s with Carlos López de Lacalle, I already knew they were two very different vintages in the Mediterranean. 2019 was very dry and Mediterranean, a healthy vintage with balance between fruit and acidity, and 2020 is without a doubt a great year in the region, one of the finest in recent times in the region. 2020 saw an early harvest with good ripeness while keeping lots of fruit and very precise and clean wines. The sweet wine was from 2017, a challenging year in the zone.