We’ve just had the most amazing few days in Bern, Switzerland. Nicknamed the Capital of Cheese (just for this week…) as 5244 cheeses from 46 different countries arrived to be judged by 265 judges from around the world. I am enormously privileged to be one of those judges. It is probably my favourite event of the year, not only because the cheeses are stunning, but also because it is a time when the cheese world gets together to celebrate all that is great in our industry. I always tell people that the cheese industry is fantastically friendly and it truly is. Going to the World Cheese Awards is like getting together with all of your mates and having a blast.
But back to the Awards… All of the judges arrive the day before the judging is due to take place and we get together in the evening to have a good chat and a catch up. It is wonderful to see friends from all over the world and we can easily wile away a few hours. It is honestly like seeing my family at Christmas! But then the next day we get down to the serious business of tasting cheese. It sounds like a dream but it is actually hard work (no, honestly it is!). We have to taste between 40-50 cheeses in a three hour slot, ranking each one out of 35 points. There are 5 points available for the cheese’s visual appearance, 5 for aroma, 5 for body and texture, and finally 20 for flavour and mouthfeel. A cheese must score 31 points and above to achieve a gold medal, 27-30 for a silver and 23-26 for a bronze. We are allowed to award as many medals as we like but at the end of the three hours we have to nominate one gold medallist to become a super gold winner. It is these super golds that go through to the next round of the contest. We always judge in 2s or 3s and generally we all agree in our scoring, but sometimes there are a few debates. I act as a team co-ordinator so it’s my job to make sure that we manage our time in order to give each cheese a fair grading and I also get the deciding vote if there’s a split decision with regards to the score. Luckily our team of 3 were in total sync and so we agreed with every score.
The super gold on our table was a semi cured goat’s cheese from a Spanish cheesemaker called Quesos Pajarete. It looked great with its basket weave pattern on its natural rind. Its aroma was rich with a hint of rosemary, and its texture was supple with a hint of crystallisation. It had a slight acidity that is very characteristic of goat’s milk and was extremely well balanced with its flavour become more intense as coated the mouth. All 107 super golds then get judged again but whilst this is happening, the Academy of Cheese Young Cheesemonger of the Year competition gets underway. This pits 6 young cheesemongers from all around the world against each other. They have to identify 3 miscellaneous cheeses, cut and wrap cheese wedges to a certain weight and answer quiz questions. The quiz is my favourite part as I can test myself as the questions are asked! The winner this year was Hanna Lee from Wisconsin, USA.
Meanwhile our 107 super golds have now been whittled down to the final 14. These go on to get tasted and judged by the Super Jury live in front of a packed arena. This year there were 4 cheeses from Switzerland, 3 from the UK, 2 from France, and 1 from the USA, Japan, Slovakia, Spain and the Netherlands. The home nation often does well as its cheeses don’t have to travel far to get to the competition. This means they are showcased at their very best. The best British cheese was Rutland Red, from Long Clawson Dairy. Made using a traditional recipe, Rutland Red is buttered, cloth-bound and matured for six months to produce a flaky, open texture cheese with a slightly sweet, caramelised flavour and rich golden orange colour. It is one of the best-selling cheeses in our counter (and one of my favourites!). But the best cheese in the World this year was an 18-month Le Gruyère AOP from Bergkäserei Vorderfultigen. This classic Swiss cheese has intense brothy flavours which combine expertly with notes of butterscotch and a lingering hazelnut finish. It is the 6th time that a Le Gruyère AOP cheese has won the top accolade and it is much deserved.
The following day after the awards we got to go on a tour of the sandstone Kaltbach caves. These caves are found in the town of Kaltbach which is about halfway between Bern and Zurich. We sell two cheeses that are matured in the caves – a Le Gruyère AOP and the Alpine Creamy. The affineurs that work in the caves travel to various cheesemakers and select young cheeses to take back to the caves for maturing. there are 2.5km of tunnels within the sandstone cliffs and an incredible 100,000 wheels of cheese are stored there. It was amazing! Seeing how each cheese is cared for; there are machines that move up and down the storage racks, picking up each cheese in turn, washing it, brushing it and turning it before placing back on a rack. Each Le Gruyère AOP weighs 35kg which is nothing compared to the 100kg wheels of Emmentaler AOP so you can see why they use a machine to do the grunt work! After our tour we were treated to a tasting of all the various cheeses that are produced in Kaltbach – they were all fabulous, but I’m pleased to report that my favourites were the ones we already stock (although their Appenzeller was also incredible!). All in all it was a totally wonderful few days – this time of year is fabulous, and I love how festive everywhere is beginning to look. In Geneva yesterday I saw my first decorated Christmas tree of the year, and it really got me in the holiday mood.
But back to reality and back to lovely Pangbourne! Things here are starting to build up already for Christmas. We have got a lot of our giftware in already and our orders are in full flow – remember you have until the 7th December to get your order in. After then we will just be offering counter service all the way up until Christmas Eve. The Pangbourne late night shopping evening is on Friday 5th December and we will be serving mulled wine in the shop to those old enough to drink it. It is always a great evening so do pop in if you’re out and about in the village.
