A soft, spoonable sheep’s milk cheese made by a Spanish cheesemaker in Portugal has been named the best cheese on the planet at the 2024 World Cheese Awards.
After 4,786 cheeses from 47 countries were judged, Queijo de Ovelha Amanteigado made by Quinta do Pomar came out on top at the awards, which were held in the city of Viseu in central Portugal.
Made with raw sheeps’ milk and vegetarian thistle rennet (known as cardoon), the winning cheese is normally eaten by cutting off the top and spooning out its almost liquid paste.
When introducing the cheese at the final stage of judging, author and expert Patrick McGuigan said: “That thistle rennet gives the cheese a wonderful breakdown so it goes very gooey and buttery but then you get this lovely herbal bitterness from these cheeses as well. This is really good example of that balance.”
Quinta do Pomar’s triumph was the grand finale to the World Cheese Awards, which was being staged for the 36th time by organisers the Guild of Fine Food – but the first time it was held in Portugal.
Speaking on zoom to the live audience at the awards, cheesemaker Sonia Marroyo said she was feeling “a lot of emotion” and said that it was “really very important” that the cheese won when the event was held so locally to the business, just under 40 miles from the event.
She added: “It was a great team effort, and a lot of hard work. It means the world.”
In terms of scale, this year’s competition – already the world’s largest cheese-only awards – was the most significant to date, with a record number of entries.
4,786 cheeses from 47 countries were evaluated by 240 judges from 40 countries, with experts in the field of cheese such as technologists and cheese graders, as well as retailers and buyers, chefs and journalists.
It was, as always, an action-packed day. Over three hours, the cheeses distributed across 104 tables were assessed by judges in groups of two or three. Points were allocated on the basis of appearance, aroma, texture, mouthfeel and flavour, with the tally equivalent to a bronze, silver, gold or no medal.
Each judging group then elected a ‘Super Gold’ for their table, which was brought before a super jury of leading figures in the cheese world – including the president of France’s Guilde Internationale des Fromagers, Roland Barthélémy, Whole Foods Market’s food product development & innovation manager Joey Wells and Turkish cheese author and retailer Neşe Biber – who whittled down the 110 cheeses to a final 14.
The Super Jury then sat with panel hosts Nigel Barden, Leyla Kazim and Patrick McGuigan to elect the World Champion Cheese, scoring each of the 14 out of 7.
Manuel Maia, who championed the cheese to the Super Jury panel of judges during the awards’ finale praised the winning cheese’s balance.
“It’s sublime match of protein and fat,” he said, later adding: “This cheese is an icon, it’s like our Eiffel Tower.”
Director of the Guild of Fine Food John Farrand said: “The Portuguese cheesemakers have done their country proud. Our World Champion cheese is typical of the central region of Portugal, extraordinary in the fact that it is made with cardo (thistle rennet) rather than conventional rennet.
“It is testament to the fact that perhaps cheese is best enjoyed, close to its home, embracing the terroir. There’s a lovely twist in that the cheesemaker, Sonia, is Spanish, living and making cheese in Portugal.”
As well as playing host to the WCA, the Academy of Cheese also staged the finals of the ‘Young Cheesemonger of the Year’ at the venue – which for 2024 was Daniel Iliev, the shop manager at the Jermyn Street branch of Paxton & Whitfield.
Bulgarian-born Iliev, who trained at The Fine Cheese Co. and was the manager of La Fromagerie in Highbury before joining Paxton & Whitfield, took the title following three rounds of the competition.
Top 14 cheeses:
- Queijo de Ovelha Amanteigado from Quinta do Pomar, Portugal – 86 points
- Tea Fondada from Chascharia Val Müstair, Switzerland – 84 points
- Alpenhorn Mifroma from Elsa Group (Mifroma), Switzerland – 84 points
- La Cava Barus García-Baquero, Lacteas Garcia Baquero S.A., Spain – 84 points
- Bayley Hazen Blue from Cellars at Jasper Hill, USA – 83 points
- Pecorino Bislacco al Rum e Tabacco from F.lli Petrucci, Italy – 82 points
- Blugins from La Casearia Carpenedo, Italy – 82 points
- Affineur Walo Creamy Lion Cheese from Thurgau from Walo von Mühlenen, Switzerland – 82 points
- Passionata from Biopark, Brazil – 81 points
- Snertingdal ysteri Godbiten from Snertingdal ysteri drift AS, Norway – 79 points
- Alte Hexe 9 Monate gereift from Bodensee Käse, Switzerland – 78 points
- Valleclaro from Quesos y Besos, Spain – 77 points
- Baldauf 1862 Meisterstück Alpkäse from Baldauf Käse, Germany – 75 points
- Tatie from Latteria Moro di Moro Sergio, Italy – 72 points
