British cheese writer Patrick McGuigan praised the victor, calling the aged raw milk cheese “very gooey, very glossy, very buttery. It has a lovely herbal bitterness as well. It’s one to scoop,” he added, possibly using breadsticks.
The World Cheese Awards, run by the British-based Guild of Fine Food, is in its 36th year, and one of the main events in the calendar for artisan food lovers around the world. Winning cheesemakers see their products rise in sales, with cheesemongers around the world quick to stock them. Portugal becomes the 10th country to win at the World Cheese Awards. Last year the top prize went to a Norwegian blue cheese.
No British prizes
Britain hasn’t won since Cornish Kern in 2017, and with no cheeses in the top 14 this year, it marks another disappointing showing, after only two in the upper echelons in 2023. There was speculation that British cheeses failed to make it through customs. France also failed to place in the top 14, but its neighbour, Switzerland, had four cheeses, while Italy had three.
The World Cheese Awards is increasingly a global affair, and this year’s edition saw entrants from 47 countries as far afield as Chile and Kenya. More than 1,000 cheesemakers entered, with 52 from Portugal, and 240 judges, a mix of cheesemongers, buyers, producers, writers, cheese-loving comedian Marcus Brigstocke and more, flew in from 40 countries for the event.
