Hospitality Business Magazine

One hundred and ninety-nine New Zealand made cheeses are entitled to affix gold, silver and bronze medal labels to affirm their quality, following the judging of the 2025 New Zealand Champions of Cheese Awards.

Owned and managed by the New Zealand Specialist Cheesemakers Association, the awards are in their 22^nd year of recognising Aotearoa’s finest cheese.

Assessment was conducted at Hamilton’s WINTEC early March with Master Judge Jason Tarrant guiding thirty judges, supported by 20 stewards, through an evaluation of 240 NZ-made cheeses. Sticking with the numbers; the 199 medal count consists of 65 gold, 83 silver and 51 bronze medals.

Category Increases

Judge Jason Tarrant said; “It was pleasing to see a nearly 10 percent increase in total entries over the previous year. With a significant 50% lift in the number of flavoured cheeses entered for assessment, and double the number in the blue cheese, export cheese and Greek or Danish-style cheese categories”.

His and the judges’ taste buds were delighted by “outstanding blue cheese, adventurous flavour added entries that complimented the cheese while offering a real point of difference for consumers. All of which was in sharp contrast to the delicate and decadent fresh Italian-Style cheese that melted in the mouth and also captured the attention of judges.’

Fresh & Smooth

For example; in the dish Champion Fresh Italian-Style Cheese category, Anabelle Exquisite Dairy Bouchees Black Garlic and Truffle received a gold medal with judges saying; ‘Lovely fresh, smooth cheese. Uniform and consistent sizing…. good balance of flavours. Presence of black garlic and truffle harmonise nicely. Great cheese.’

In the FSQSNZ Champion Aged Flavour Added Cheese category Jones Family Farm Peppered Havarti received a gold medal with their judges’ feedback: ‘Excellent cheese! Excellent flavour! Beautifully presented! Cheese flavour and body well balanced. Pepper was the perfect addition.’

Awarding Kāpiti Artisan Bridge Street Blue a gold medal in the ECOLAB Champion Blue Cheese category, the judges’ comments said: ‘Rustic external cheese (Positively). Well broken down interior, interior decadent…. inside was awesome. Some firmness, some creamy ‘oozy’ texture which was great…. a good cheese. Well done.’

The labels provide consumers a guarantee that the cheese is made in NZ and it’s been assessed by experts who affirm it’s of the highest quality. Buying NZ cheese helps maintain jobs and income for Aotearoa businesses.

NZSCA Chair, Simon Lamb thanked the Awards sponsors and all the volunteer judges and stewards whose expertise made the awards possible. “Without the voluntary contributions of judges and stewards who donate their Sunday to help find NZ’s best cheeses the NZ Champions of Cheese Awards wouldn’t be possible.”

Champions of Cheese Trophies

The highest scoring gold medal cheeses are in contention to be named as Champions at the NZ Champions of Cheese Awards 2025 Gala Dinner in Hamilton on Thursday 1 May 2025.

The NZ Champions of Cheese 2025 Trophies the medal winning cheese producers are vying for are: