Top Kiwi cheeses put to the test

Media release                                                                                      24 February 2009

 
Top Kiwi cheeses put to the test

Twenty-five passionate cheese connoisseurs will descend on Auckland this Sunday (1 March) to scrutinise 400 of New Zealand’s best specialty cheeses in the 2009 Cuisine NZ Champions of Cheese Awards.

Headed by international Master Judge, Neil Willman, the team of judges have the tough task of sniffing, crumbling, tasting and assessing the ‘cheese appeal’ of hundreds of cheeses from around the country.

From Brie and Gouda to Feta and Cheddar, the cheeses will be judged in 19 categories, covering all milk and cheese types, best cheesemaker and even packaging. They will culminate in two supreme awards – the Cuisine Artisan Award for small boutique producers and the Yealands Estate Champion of Champions for larger producers.

“The judges are really looking for that cheese appeal to find the standouts,” says Willman. “Not all cheeses are created equally and the judges will ask themselves if each cheese is the best it can be. Does it deliver the body, flavour balance, and the characteristics of a champion feta? Does it have the character of a magnificent Cheddar?

“All cheeses are judged on both technical and aesthetic characteristics. The judging is taken very seriously and lasts for up to six hours, leaving no cheese unturned in the quest to find cheese perfection,” he says.

More than 400 cheeses have been entered in this year’s awards, showing that a year of controversy over the cost of cheese and increasingly gloomy economic news has not been able to dent industry growth, says awards organiser Vikki Lee Goode.

The Cuisine NZ Champions of Cheese Awards, now in their seventh year and the only awards of their kind in New Zealand, are being held from March 1-4 at Auckland’s SKYCITY Convention Centre. Entrants range in size from New Zealand’s largest business, Fonterra, right down to one- or two-person artisan cheesemakers.

Master judge Neil Willman is Australia’s only fulltime cheese educator and trainer who has, for 26 years, been responsible for all the cheese education and training programmes at Gilbert Chandler College, Australia’s only dedicated dairy college. Judging for the 2009 Cuisine NZ Champions of Cheese Awards takes place on March 1, with the awards announced at a gala dinner on March 3.

The public will be able to meet and talk to the cheesemakers, to sample the award winners, and many other of New Zealand’s best cheeses, at Cheese Fest, from 5-8pm on March 4 at SKYCITY Convention Centre in Auckland.

Ends

© Scoop Media