El Sequé

The Mediterranean adventure of a Rioja pioneer

In 1999, Juan Carlos López de Lacalle discovered the highlands of Pinoso - and with him, as he says, „the living trace of the Phoenicians and Romans“. The man who, with Artadi had already made history, was looking for a contrast to his Atlantic-influenced Tempranillo wines. He found it in the barren, brown-limestone soils of Alicante: 100% Monastrell, the autochthonous grape variety of the western Mediterranean.

Together with Agapito Rico, a local winemaker with decades of Monastrell experience, he acquired 40 hectares of old bush vines. The oldest vines date back to the late 1950s - ungrafted, deep-rooted and with minimal yields. These pie franco vines (bare-root plants without American rootstock) have survived phylloxera because the sandy soils do not offer the pest any support.

600 metres above the Mediterranean

The vineyards are located in four different zones around Pinoso, on the western edge of the DO Alicante. On 600 to 650 metres altitude has an extreme continental climate: temperatures rise to over 40°C during the day and fall to below 15°C at night. This amplitude of up to 25 degrees within one day preserves flavour and acidity - even when the grapes are fully physiologically ripe.

The soil tells its own story: sandy loam soil over calcareous subsoil, poor in clay and organic matter. Everything stresses the vines here - heat, drought, lack of nutrients. But it is precisely this stress that concentrates the flavours and naturally keeps yields low. Traditional bush training protects the grapes from direct sunlight and allows them to ripen slowly and evenly.

Gentle extraction, large barrels

In the cellar, oenologist Vicente Milla and his team work with deliberate restraint. The grapes are harvested and sorted by hand, followed by a Cold maceration from 24 to 48 hours. Fermentation takes place in open stainless steel tanks, with the mash being punched down twice a day - more gentle than traditional pumping over.

After malolactic fermentation, the wine matures El Sequé for twelve months in 500 litre barrels made from French oak. These larger barrels integrate the wood more subtly than the usual barriques - ideal for Monastrell, whose lower tannin content reacts more sensitively to the influence of wood. The result: powerful but silky wines with notes of dark fruit, herbs and a characteristic balsamic tone.

World's best value, Spanish soul

In 2017, Wine-Searcher chose the El Sequé 2014 World's Best Value Wine„ - 93 points at an average price of 24 dollars. The award confirmed what Juan Carlos López de Lacalle knew from the outset: Alicante's old Monastrell vines can produce wines of international calibre without demanding international prices.

El Sequé belongs to the same family as Artazu in Navarre - three projects, three regions, one philosophy: organic cultivation, respect for old vines and single vineyard sites, wines that let you taste their origins. In Pinoso, this means: Mediterranean vigour with freshness of altitude, concentration without heaviness, character without mask.