Seven medals for Lanzarote wines at the heroic viticulture world contest

Lanzarote's wines have come back from the Mondial des Vins Extrêmes with seven medals: three Grand Gold and four Gold. Now in its thirty-fourth year, the competition is held in Valle d'Aosta and run by CERVIM: it is the only one in the world reserved for heroic viticulture — steep slopes, high altitudes and small islands. This year more than 1,100 wines from 22 countries were entered.

Bodegas Timanfaya did best: two Grand Gold medals, for the Moscatel Dulce Selección 1999 and the Malvasía Dulce Natural 2018, plus a Gold for Timanfaya Tinto 2023. The 1999 moscatel also took the special prize for the best wine from ungrafted vines, with the highest score in its category.

A Grand Gold went to Martinón Blanco Seco 2025 from Bodegas Martinón, which added a Gold with Blanco Afrutado 2025. Two Golds for El Grifo, with the Experiencia de Vendimia Listán Blanco, Crianza en Fudre 2024 and the Seco Colección 2025.

Why it matters

The category says more than the medal. On Lanzarote vines are grown in hollows dug into volcanic ash and sheltered by low stone walls, one by one: farming done by hand, on land that gives nothing away. The president of the DOP Vinos de Lanzarote regulatory board, Jorge Rodríguez, read the awards as recognition of that labour. It is also why these wines win a contest that only measures those growing in extreme conditions.