A classic Le Gruyère AOP from Switzerland was named best cheese on the planet while competing on home soil at the 37th World Cheese Awards (WCA) in Bern.
The 18-month Gruyère AOP Vorderfultigen Spezial produced by Bergkäserei Vorderfultigen took the World Champion title at the final stage of the Awards, with the judging panel hailing its crystalline texture and its “brothy, umami” flavour.
This is the sixth time in WCA history that a Le Gruyère AOP has won the top honour.
An unusual French cheese dressed with flowers – Crémeux des Aldudes aux Fleurs made by Etxaldia – was pipped to the post by a single point and took second place.
Another Swiss cheese – a 9-month Appenzeller Edel-Würzig made by Käserei Ifang – took third place at the competition which was staged in Bern as part of the city’s Capital of Cheese Festival.
Despite the home triumph, the top 14 reflected the truly global nature of the entrants into the Awards, with cheeses from Japan, Slovakia, the USA and the Netherlands – as well as three British cheeses.
The winner topped a record-breaking 5,244 entries from 46 countries at this year’s World Cheese Awards in Bern, Switzerland.
One of two hosts of the awards, Patrick McGuigan, described it as a “big piece of cheese” with a “dark orange rind and umami brothy notes”
“The aroma has a real beefiness to it. It’s savoury, it’s deep, it’s umami… It’s probably quite familiar to people in this room.”
The winner was nominated into the final 14 by Super Jury member Perry Wakeman of Rennet & Rind. He said he chose it because it was the kind of cheese “that would make people get excited about cheese from all walks of life.”
“Maybe a few people recognise this cheese, but what you know about this cheese – it being brothy and meaty – imagine all that that you’ve had before, and then dialled up to 13.”
“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. I found myself going back and back again for it.”
“This kind of cheese, in a weird way, is what gets people into cheese. It is massive, it makes an impact, it just feels like anyone who eats it, who’s not one of us, who doesn’t eat cheese all the time just gets excited about it. They want to go back for more and ask who makes it, how it’s made, what goes on with it, and I think that’s what makes this cheese so, so special.”
The cheesemaker and managing director of Bergkäserei Vorderfultigen, Pius Hitz, was actually present to collect the trophy as soon as its winner was announced.
Hitz said: “It’s a very great honour for me and for the daily work that goes into this, seven days a week, 365 days a year. It’s an honour for all the time that the cheese spends with us, around 20 months. The whole team will be very proud, and I am really looking forward to seeing how this impacts our business. But first, we must work out how to celebrate.”
Managing director of the Guild of Fine Food John Farrand added: “And there you have it: the host country scoops the biggest prize in cheese again. Perhaps it is that our judges are immersed in the terroir of the nation, perhaps it is the simple fact that the cheese has less far to travel, but the reality is that this cheese has won through our multi-layered and robust blind-tasting judging process and ended up achieving the highest score, impressing the Super Jury judges from 14 different nations.”
The World Champion triumphed after a full-on day of judging at BernExpo’s Festhalle on 13th November 2025. The event was hosted as part of the Swiss capital’s Capital of Cheese celebrations – a three-day festival of tastings, markets and masterclasses.
Now in its 37th year, the World Cheese Awards was hosted in Switzerland for the first time. As the world’s largest cheese-only competition, it attracts entries from a full spectrum of cheese production, from major groups to small artisan dairies across six continents.
Judging began on Thursday morning, with 110 teams of two to three judges – of which there were 265 in total – assessing entries on appearance, aroma, body, texture and flavour. Cheeses were awarded Bronze, Silver and Gold medals – and picked a Super Gold from among their selection of Gold medallists.
Those Super Golds then progressed to a second stage, where a ‘Super Jury’ – an international panel of 14 leading figures from retail, production and affinage, who were, for the first time this year, excluded from the morning of judging, to avoid palate fatigue – selected 14 finalists. Finally, late afternoon, each cheese was championed by a member of the Super Jury – who defended its merits in front of a live audience.
This year’s Super Jury brought together cheesemaking expertise from five continents: Ann Keymeulen of L’Art du Fromage in Belgium; Ching Yin Chin, founder of The Cheese Shop Singapore), Joey Wells, of Whole Foods Market, USA; Eleonora Borgonovi, export sales manager at Ambrosi Spa in Italy; head of retail at Sheridans Cheesemongers in Ireland, Finbar James Deery; Joost van Nijnatten, owner of Het Kaasatelier in the Netherlands; Kuba Maziarczyk of Fromażeria Kaiserhof in Poland; retail manager at Möllans Ost in Sweden, Malin Dahl; Svein Erik Backlund, sales manager at Oluf Lorentzen in Norway; Nick Tsioros of cheese retailer and importer Olympic Cheese Mart in Canada; Perry James Wakeman of Rennet & Rind in Cambridge; Rafael Dominguez Gonzalez, export manager at Chacón e Hijo in Spain; Sabrina Lau, purchase manager at Coop Basel in Switzerland and Solange Porley Kroger of Queseria DeGuarda in Uruguay.
Entries into the World Cheese Awards were up nine percent over last year, with cheeses shipped in via 20 international consolidation points. This system was designed to help makers compete on the world stage, no matter their scale. Switzerland itself entered 948 cheeses, the highest number from any one country.
New to this year’s competition was the Es La Leche Award, recognising the important role of milk in cheesemaking and devoted producers. The inaugural winners, Ricardo Outeiro and Xesús Mazaira Varela of Airas Moniz for their achievements in sustainable herding and milk quality.
Literally translated as “It’s the milk” but used colloquially in Spanish to mean “It’s amazing”, the award will become a permanent fixture, with future recipients nominated by World Cheese Awards judges.
In addition to the overall World Champion title, trophies were awarded across countries and categories, including: Best British Cheese, Best Swiss Cheese, Best Italian Cheese, Best French Cheese, Best Portuguese Cheese, Best Raw Milk Cheese, Best New Cheese and Best Artisan Cheese.
Philippe Bardet, director of Le Gruyère AOP, received the Exceptional Contribution to Cheese trophy.
Finally, the location of the next iteration of the World Cheese Awards was announced after the Super Jury panel, which will take place in Córdoba, Andalusia in Spain.
Full results and medal listings will be published at gff.co.uk/worldcheese on Monday, 17th November.
Running alongside the main competition was the Academy of Cheese’s Young Cheesemonger of the Year contest, celebrating emerging talent in cheese retail, which was won by Hanna Lee, a monger at Uplands Cheese in Wisconsin, USA.
The five other finalists were Emma Cachau of Fromagerie Chataigner in Paris; Harry English, who works at La Fromagerie in London; Magdalena Gruber of Mühltaler in Salzburg; Tori McDonald of Mellis Cheese in Edinburgh; and Cián Ó Cinnéide, who works at Neal’s Yard Dairy in London. The competition consisted of five rounds: a cheeseboard proposal, prepared in advance; a cutting and wrapping challenge; a cheese identification round; a ‘perfect pairings with Peter’s Yard’ round; and finally, the MasterRind quiz.
As prizes, Hanna Lee received a Boska Pro Tool kit, access to a Level 2 Academy of Cheese course, a feature in Fine Food Digest and will be invited to judge at the 2026 World Cheese Awards.
She said: “I feel overwhelmed and honoured.” She described the competition and the AoC’s mission as “a great credit to American cheesemongers and cheesemongers of all countries.”
“It’s a well-rounded showing of skills, which I think is what we want as cheesemongers: we want to speak to customers, but also to taste your cheese and know what you’re tasting, whether it’s defected, and also that education aspect, so this is great.”
