El Sequé Dulce 2016/2018

El Sequé Dulce is a fortified sweet red made by the prestigious Artadi (through its El Sequé estate) in Alicante, Spain. Made entirely from Monastrell, it's a modern take on Alicante's traditional sweet wines, similar in style to a Port.

The Wine Advocate
RP 94

Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez

The 2016 El Sequé Dulce is a fortified sweet Monastrell made in a style similar to Vintage Port. It was fortified to only 16.5% alcohol (they started in 2010 at around 18%, and the alcohol has been gradually lowered) and kept around 85 grams of sugar, as they don't want a very heavy wine. In fact, it's very aromatic and floral, with very good freshness. The grapes were picked very ripe (but not overripe). It's tannic, but not too much, and sweet, but not excessively, and quite elegant for the style. I'm curious to see how this wine develops in bottle, as the older vintages are still too young. This is probably the freshest vintage of this wine. 2,500 bottles were filled in December 2018.

El Sequé is Artadi's winery in Alicante. I tasted these wines as part of their portfolio, despite having published them before, but I've included them here again for context and completeness. Here they work exclusively with Monastrell, from which they make reds and fortified wines.