The best cheese in the world has been named… and it’s not french

Tomé Morrissy-Swan 04 November 2021 12:00pm GMT A soft, slow-pasteurised Spanish goats cheese has pipped a French epoisses to the top prize at the eleventh hour at the World Cheese Awards.

Olavidia, which is made in Andalusia by Quesos y Bejos, a family-run company of just six people, has a white-mould crust and a thin line of edible ash running through its centre.  At the

ceremony, held in Oviedo, northern Spain, judge Jason Hinds, sales director at Neal’s Yard Dairy, said the cheese “stole my heart. It’s like nothing I’ve seen before. It had an incredibly

rich, unctuous, creamy texture, it was pillowy, warm and comforting, and the flavour was rich, round and long. I just wanted to go to bed with it.”  The cheese, which can be found online in

the UK at a cost of £ 9.50, received five more points than its nearest rival. It marks a return of the award to Europe after an American cheese won for the first time in 2019, which caused a

stink in the French press, with one  newspaper describing it as “sacrilege”.  Two British cheeses featured in the top 16: Pitchfork, an 18-month aged raw milk cheddar and Gorwydd

Caerphilly, both made at the Trethowan dairy in Somerset. Cathy Strange, a judge, global cheese expert and buyer at Whole Foods, described the latter as “a very difficult cheese to make. The

flavours have citrus notes, it feels very lactic, very milky in your mouth, with unique flavours of the fields. [It’s like] a spring day, walking with a slight breeze. I was so impressed.”

  In a world where food and drink awards are ten a penny, the World Cheese Awards seem bigger and more powerful than most, making headlines across the world. Since 1988, they’ve had the

potential to change a cheesemaker’s life, propelling them from relative obscurity to global fame, most notably in 2018 when a Norwegian cheese made from the milk of a herd of just 12 cows

was named the winner. As one of 250 judges at the 2021 iteration, I witnessed first hand the glamour and grandeur of the event. After a mildly awkward walk down a posh exhibition centre

staircase between rows of Asturian bagpipe players, with scores of photographers snapping away as if surrounding a Hollywood red carpet, I arrived at my table of 40-odd cheeses. Which may

seem a lot, but there were a record 4,079 entries this year, from 45 countries, including the first ever Indian cheese. My team tried all sorts. Goats, sheep, cow - alone and mixed any which

way. Soft, plasticky, mass-produced; crumbly, funky and stinky. A fresh mozzarella plait larger than a baby; a rough hunk of curd that looked like a mouldy, caved-in panettone and tasted of

Lambrini. A giant Babybel (in flavour, sadly not in appearance). And Tetilla, a delightfully soft and creamy cheese that looks (and is named after) a breast and was one of my favourites on

the day.  After two-and-a-half hours of deliberation, each table’s “Super Gold” was sent to the head judging panel to squish, sniff and ruminate, before the Spanish winner was declared, to

whoops and cheers in the audience.  The awards can be transformative for small producers, with British-based cheese buyers at the ceremony already putting in orders.  David Gremmels is the

founder of Rogue Creamery in Oregon, USA. At the World Cheese Awards in 2019 his Rogue River Blue, a potent, unique cheese wrapped in vine leaves that he and his team pick, and soaked in

pear liqueur he and his team produces, became the first American cheese to win the top prize.  It was controversial, to say the least, beating a Parmesan to top spot and annoying French and

Italian tabloids in the process. “There was so much drama in the EU, people were in disbelief,” Gremmels, a judge this time round, reminisces. “I looked at it with a big grin. If they only

knew what happens in the food scene in America, it would blow them away. The awards put American cheese on the map, they no longer think of it as Kraft Singles.” In the United States,

October 18 has been designated National Blue Cheese Day. It’s not a public holiday, yet, jokes American cheesemaker David Gremmels. But, who knows, in a few years it could be.  It remains to

be seen whether this year’s winner will experience the same upturn in fortunes (Gremmels has upped production by 20 per cent), but it would be unwise to bet against it.  WORLD CHEESE AWARDS

TOP 16 * Olavidia, Quesos y Besos, Spain * Epoisses Berthaut Perrière, Savencia Fromage & Dairy, France  * Eminence Grise - Tomme Chèvre Grise au Bleu, Van der Heiden Kaas BC,

Netherlands  * Baracska semi-hard cheese, Csiz Sajtmuhely Kft, Hungary * Twentse Bunkerkaas Geit, Royal FrieslandCampina, Netherlands * Camembeso, Quesos y Besos, Spain * Gorwydd Caerphilly,

Trethowan's Dairy, United Kingdom *  Montana Intenso, MAAZ Cheese B.V, Netherlands * Gorgonzola Dolce DOP Caseificio Brusati, Caseificio Brusati, Italy * Vorarlberger Bergkäse über 10

Monate, Dorfsennerei Schlins-Röns und Umgebung eGen, Austria  * Almnäs Tegel, Almnäs Bruk AB, Sweden * Parmigiano Reggiano 30-39 mesi, Nazionale Parmigiano Reggiano Rosola di Zocca, Italy *

Tomme de chèvre, Prolactine France, France * Parrano Robusto, Royal FrieslandCampina, Netherlands * Pitchfork Vintage Cheddar, Trethowan's Dairy, United Kingdom * Hisui, Cheese

Professional Association, Japan ------------------------- What is your favourite British cheese? Tell us in the comments section below