Le Gruyère AOP Premier Cru Crowned World Champion Cheese 2015
Le Gruyère AOP
has scooped the top prize at the World Cheese Awards for a record fourth time,
coming top among the 2,727 cheeses judged at the NEC in Birmingham on Thursday
26 November. The winning Gruyère, from Cremo SA von Mühlenen, triumphed at the
world's largest cheese-only awards scheme, with Mexican judge Carlos Yescas,
from the Oldways Cheese Coalition, saying, “you're transported – this is a
wonderful representation of this type of cheese and you can really taste the
terroir”, while Italian judge Davide Fiori, from Luigi Guffanti 1876, said, “I
love this cheese because it's not just for eating – it's for talking about with
friends. The taste tells you so much about the pastures it comes from.” The
final Super Jury, representing nations including Japan, South Africa,
Australia, Canada, USA and the Basque Country, concurred, awarding Le Gruyère
AOP Premier Cru the highest score of the final judging stage.
On hearing the
news, René Ruch of Cremo SA said; “To win again and again is fantastic, and to
win against all these incredible cheeses from around the world is a real
honour. The World Cheese Awards is the greatest of all cheese competitions and
it is very special to be recognised by a jury of top international experts.
This award represents the hard work and dedication of our farmers, cheesemakers
and affineurs, so I'm very proud to be going back to Switzerland to
congratulate them.”
Le Gruyère AOP
Premier Cru was awarded 69 points out of a possible 80 by the Super Jury of 16
judges, narrowly beating a French Tomme Brebis-Chèvre from Onetik and a Burrata
from the UK's La Credenza Ltd, which came joint second on 68 points. John
Farrand, managing director of the Guild of Fine Food, organisers of the World
Cheese Awards commented, “The final round of judging is such a close run thing,
so it never fails to provide a really exciting spectacle. With our Super Jury
choosing between the top 16 cheeses in the world, it's always too close to call
until the final numbers come in, but Le Gruyère AOP got a resounding thumbs up
from our judges and is testament to the tried and tested traditional techniques
of these cheesemakers from Switzerland.”
Over 250 cheese
experts from 22 different nations travelled to the NEC to judge all the cheeses
in the space of a single day, tasting over 2,700 entries within the 1,100
square metre judging arena. The final judging panel of top-name global experts,
made up of cheese buyers, retailers and writers – including Japan's Terumi
Suimon, Australia's Kris Lloyd and France's Marwen Amor – then tasted a
shortlist of 16 cheeses to select the 2015 World Champion Cheese. Guild of Fine
Food chairman and World Cheese Awards Founder, Bob Farrand, championed the
cheese during the final round of judging, applauding its “depth, creaminess,
fruitiness and nuttiness,” adding “this is a cheese that has been affineured
extraordinarily well and the flavour just kept going and going.”
The 28th World
Cheese Awards, organised by The Guild of Fine Food, took place during the BBC
Good Food Show Winter at Birmingham's NEC, drawing entries from over 25
countries including New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Estonia and South Africa.
Cheeses of all shapes, sizes and colours, including many innovative additive
cheeses, made their way by truck, plane, boat and car via 10 consolidation
points in all corners of the globe.
Next year's
World Cheese Awards will be held in San Sebastián in association with Artzai
Gazta, forming part of the International Cheese Festival between 16-19 November
2016, during the city's tenure as European Capital of Culture. Victoria
Urresti, Technical Expert of the Tasting Committee for the PDO Idiazabel Cheese
and member of Artzai Gazta's Technical Committee, who was also on this year's
Super Jury, said, “this really is the World Cup of cheese and provides a
wonderful opportunity to share knowledge and ideas. We're so excited about
bringing the World Cheese Awards to San Sebastián next year and can't wait to
showcase the artisan cheeses of the Basque Country.”
The BBC Good
Food Show Winter was held at the NEC, Birmingham between 26-29 November 2015.
For more information visit www.bbcgoodfoodshowwinter.com.
World Cheese
Awards 2015 – the background
2015 is the
28th year of the competition
ONLY cheese is
entered – not yoghurt, cream, butter or other dairy
2,727 cheeses
from over 25 different countries entered – including UK and Ireland, New
Zealand, Canada, Australia, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Belgium, Sweden,
Austria, France, Germany, Spain, USA, South Africa, Estonia, Switzerland and
more…
250 expert
judges travelled from 22 countries to 'nose' and taste the cheese
Judging
broadcasted live on World Cheese TV
A Super Jury of
16 judges decided the final winning World Champion Cheese
30,000 people
had an opportunity to see the World Cheese Awards at the BBC Good Food Show
Winter at Birmingham's NEC
How the judging
works
World Cheese
Awards' judges include technical experts, buyers, retailers and food writers
from 22 different countries. Judges work in teams of four or five, tasting and
evaluating each cheese, deciding whether it's worthy of a gold, silver or
bronze award – or no award. They are looking at the rind and the body of the
cheese, its colour, texture and consistency and, above all, its taste.
Each team can
give as many or as few awards as they feel the cheeses deserve, but every decision
is made as a team to ensure that the World Cheese Awards does justice to every
single cheese. Each team must then nominate just one exceptional cheese from
their table to go through to the final stages of judging. The 60 Super Gold
cheeses are then judged by the World Cheese Awards' Super Jury, who select the
World Champion Cheese live on World Cheese TV.
If you want to find out more about Chef
Wise go to the Chef Wise web site just follow the links below.
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