An 18-month-old Swiss Gruyere took top honors at this year’s World Cheese Awards, judged last week in Bern, Switzerland, where the total number of entries topped 5,000 for the first time.
The cheeses, from 46 countries were judged (read tasted) by a panel of 250 judges, with 14 advancing to the final round. Pius Hitz’s Vorderfultigen cheese dairy, not far from Bern, scored a real coup by placing two of its cheeses in the top 14. Vorderfultigen also took top honors in 2022 under its previous leader.
Cheeses from 46 countries were entered; the top 14 included four from Switzerland, three from the UK, two from France and one each from the U.S., Netherlands, Spain, Japan and Slovakia.
Although selection in the awards can give a cheesemaker a serious boost, in Hitz’s case it will have to come from his fourth place winner, Gatrisch Mountain cheese, because of quotas on the Swiss Gruyere AOP. He and his three employees typically produce six to seven wheels of Gruyere and a few of the Mountain cheese daily, but only that one can increase production.
