Posted on 11/14/2025 11:35:10 AM PST by Red Badger
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https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/11/14/swiss-gruyere-crowned-the-2025-world-cheese-champion_6747449_4.html
The World Cheese Awards first prize winner, a gruyère AOP special over 18 months cheese presented by Swiss cheese maker Hitz Pius, from the Vorderfultigen cheese company, during the 37th edition of the World Cheese Awards, in Bern, Switzerland, November 13, 2025. GABRIEL MONNET / AFP A Swiss gruyère was crowned the 2025 World Cheese Champion on Thursday, November 13, seeing off competition from more than 5,000 rivals from 46 countries. The 18-month-old Vorderfultigen Spezial produced by Bergkaserei Vorderfultigen won the title at the World Cheese Awards, held in the Swiss capital Bern.
The winning cheese came from a mountain dairy in the pre-Alps region of Gantrisch, just south of Bern. Grand final judge Perry Wakeman said it was the kind of cheese "that would make people get excited about cheese." "It's a big old cheese – there's a lot going on. The texture is beautiful: it's flinty as you break it apart; the crystalline in there are so delicate," he said. "It is massive. It makes an impact."
It was the first time that the contest, created by the British-based Guild of Fine Food in 1988, has been staged in cheese-loving Switzerland – though gruyère cheeses have scooped the top prize five times before.
Kuba Maziarczyk, super jury member and Polish cheesemaker, smells a piece of cheese during the 37th edition of the World Cheese Awards, organised by the Guild of Fine Food, in Bern, on November 13, 2025. GABRIEL MONNET / AFP
Appearance, nose, flavor
Laid out on seemingly endless tables draped in white tablecloths, 5,244 cheeses were tasted by an international jury of 265 experts made up of cheesemakers, chefs, buyers, sellers and journalists from more than 40 countries, recognizable by their yellow aprons.
"First of all, we're looking at the visual appearance of the cheese: how it looks like from the inside and outside," Polish cheesemaker Kuba Maziarczyk, one of the judges in the final, told Agence France-Presse (AFP). The second step "is the nose: so all the aromas that the cheese is actually giving us." And then, it comes down to flavor.
The judges made an initial selection of the most outstanding cheeses before a second and then a final evaluation by a "super jury" of judges from 14 different countries.
"Cheese must reflect its terroir; it must be balanced in terms of taste, aroma and flavor," said French judge Laurent Dubois. "It shouldn't be too aged or too young. Cheese is always a question of harmony. That's why good cheeses are often those with a long tradition," he said.
The joy of cheese
Around 2,000 people watched the action inside Bern's Festhalle exposition hall. "We've got blues. We've got hard cheeses. We've got all different styles. That makes it really interesting," said British judge Nigel Barden, a food and drink broadcaster for the BBC. "Just when you think your palate's getting a little bit tired, suddenly a cheese comes along and really excites you," he said. "And that's the joy of the World Cheese Awards."
The Guild of Fine Food's managing director John Farrand told AFP that the awards were originally founded to raise the profile of small cheesemakers. In the 1980s, dairy production had become "quite consolidated," he said. "I think perhaps we'd forgotten the connection between the land, the milk, the animal, and the farm," and ultimately the cheese, he said.
The awards were established "to try and remind the world that small can be beautiful in cheesemaking terms." Next year's World Cheese Awards will be held in Cordoba, Spain.
Le Monde with AFP
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How do you come to that conclusion?
😃😄😂🤣🤣🤣
A wee bit
STOP THAT MUSIC!!! 🎶🎶🎶🎶
“never on Tuesday”
Gruyere or Raclette...to die for! Death by fondue!
LOL 😂😆
Or gorgonzola!
“I’ll eat any cheese but Limburger’
Oh god I love it with leberwurst, schwarz brot, ochsenschwanz suppe and DAB!
I use gruyere cheese for my French Onion Soup recipe. Brandy too.
Duh!! Not brandy...dry sherry.
I made French Onion soup a couple of weeks ago. I use gruyere on top. Add a cup of dry sherry to the pot.
Thanks. I’m afraid I’ll have to forgo the dry sherry. Not that I wouldn’t like it. Alcohol and my meds don’t play nice with each other. It will still be good.
Sorry that alcohol interferes with your meds. I'm diabetic. Was diagnosed about 25 years ago, and still take oral medication for it. The dry sherry in the soup is the only alcohol I use. The sherry idea came from a recipe for French Onion Soup from the Dobbin House Restaurant in Gettysburg, Pa. I'd had their French Onion Soup several times and loved it. Bought a set of their recipe cards many years ago which included their recipe for the soup. I'd never heard of putting sherry in before that, so tried it. I also add thyme and paprika to the Dobbin House recipe. Those two ingredients, I got from another recipe and just put the two recipes together. That same Dobbin House recipe is also the only one I've seen that calls for topping the soup with Gruyere cheese. It's very hard to find Gruyere Cheese around here. Most places only sell it in small blocks and it's expensive. I finally found a local grocery store that sells shredded Gruyere and Swiss together in a bag, and it's much cheaper. Happy soup making!!!
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