Three Basque cider houses feature in the Frankfurt medal table. At the Cider World Awards 2025, the international competition held alongside the Cider World fair, Zapiain took two golds, and Zabala and Isastegi a silver each. In all, four medals for Basque cider.

Two golds for Astigarraga

Zapiain won gold in two different categories: still ciders, with its natural cider Euskal Sagardoa Premium 2024, protected by the Euskal Sagardoa designation of origin; and dessert ciders, with Bizi-Goxo, its ice cider. According to the cider house itself, the jury, made up of sommeliers and cider specialists from several countries, praised the “wonderful balance” of the former.

Ion Zapiain, who runs the business, travelled to Germany to collect the awards. In his view cider, despite its deep roots in the Basque Country, is gaining appreciation beyond its traditional home: “Both the natural cider and the ice cider are very food-friendly ciders that go really well with a wide variety of dishes.” Even so, he said that “the best award of all” is the trust of those who drink, distribute and serve his cider.

The other two Basque medals were silvers for natural cider: Zabala’s R.80 and Isastegi’s designation of origin cider.

Two days of cider in Frankfurt

The competition took place on Friday 25 and Saturday 26 April. On the Friday, at the Astor Film Lounge MyZeil, the awards were presented and the Cider World Forum made its debut, a programme of talks and workshops for professionals; one of them was about Asturian cider, recognised at the end of 2024 as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. On the Saturday, the 17th Frankfurt International Cider Fair opened to the public at the Gesellschaftshaus Palmengarten, with tastings, masterclasses and presentations.

The guest region of honour was Styria, in Austria, which brought its “Steirer Most”, the area’s traditional cider.

Asturian producers won eleven medals, shared between Grupo El Gaitero (six), Llagar Castañón (two), Sidra Fran (two) and Bodegas Masaveu (one).

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