Critical acclaim for Condado de Haza

Winning a Platinum medal in the Decanter World Wine Awards is hard – but winning Best in Show is even harder. From almost 17,000 entries in the 2026 competition, just 50 wines were awarded a Best in Show medal (that’s 0.3% of entries!).

One of these was Condado de Haza Reserva 2021 from Ribera del Duero.

Consistency and quality

The Best in Show wines are chosen by the most senior judges, after re-tasting all of the Platinum medal winners, so they really are the best of the best.

But for Rodrigo Pons and Lucía Pascual, who head up the winemaking team at Condado de Haza, this is not a one-off triumph, but the culmination of lots of good decisions and dedication over a long time.

‘It is truly exciting,’ says Pascual. ‘A confirmation of the consistent work carried out year after year to bring out the full potential of each vintage.’

Beauty from extremity

Condado de Haza's first vineyards were planted in 1988: 200ha of Tempranillo that stretch to the horizon around the winery on the high plains of Ribera del Duero. Hot and dry during the day, at higher than 800m, temperatures drop markedly at night. Winters can be brutally cold.

It is a harsh landscape for humans, but a wonderful one for grapes, and the team at Condado de Haza enhances this with a fully organic approach to viticulture. There are minimal chemical interventions on their 40-year-old vines, while cover crops add nutrients, retain moisture and prevent soil erosion. Retaining trees and shrubs in the vineyards encourages wider biodiversity.

In short, the entire ecosystem benefits, and healthy vines give healthy grapes – which makes better wine.

Where wines sleep – and people visit

The winery itself is a striking ‘Castilian château,’ and every aspect of vinification takes place on site – all the winemaking, and barrel and bottle ageing.

Burrowed into the side of a hill, the cellar is 30m below ground, allowing the wines to develop gracefully in perfect conditions. It’s a key factor in the Condado de Haza Reserva, which spends 12 months in French oak barrels, as well as time in bottle before it is released.

A tour of the winery and the chance to sample four of its wines really helps to bring the concept alive. If you can manage it, the once-a-year Harvest Experience, involving grape picking, a barbecue lunch and estate visit, is an experience not to be missed.

A standout example

The 2021 vintage was picked out as superlative right from the start; the job of the winemaking team simply to translate this natural bounty into a top-class product.

According to the DWWA 2026 senior judges, 'aromatically, it's an arrow bound for the bullseye, without any exaggeration of oak or flamboyant overripeness of fruit: pure, sumptuous, inviting, sweetly refined and packed with brooding fruits.'

Describing it as 'ample yet harmonious,' they praised the wine's long finish and ageworthiness, saying 'it lingers on the tongue, and the finish hints at savoury developments to come. If, that is, you can keep your hands off it for now…'

With such acclaim from the judges of the world's biggest wine competition, Condado de Haza Reserva 2021 is undoubtedly a wine to seek out.

Learn more about Condado de Haza

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