Cheesemakers and mongers are harnessing the power of time, temperature and microbes to create new cheeses thanks to the influence of the Affineur of the Year competition.
Perry James Wakeman, CEO of Rennet & Rind in Cambridge, who has won the annual Academy of Cheese contest three times, is maturing a batch of 45 Quicke’s cheddars using affinage techniques he used at last year’s awards. The 8kg truckles are being matured without cloth-binding and the rind is regularly pierced with a spiked roller to reduce moisture and create an even spread of mould. The cheeses will be released in September and sold as Dillon, the name of last year’s champion cheese.
“I have a roadmap for Dillon and it’s fascinating to see how the cheeses are developing now we have scaled up,” said Wakeman. “Affinage is a way to develop new products, but it has multi-faceted benefits, helping to elevate cheese care across everything we do.”
Quicke’s has also changed the way it matures its cheddar in Devon on the back of the competition, increasing the temperature of its maturing room and researching how many layers of cloth and lard are used to manage moisture loss. “We have also been inspired by some of the washes and rubs that people have used,” said MD Jane Quicke. “[We are] planning to see if there are new products we could develop using some of these techniques.”
Cheshire cheesemaker Claire Burt is already using knowledge learned at Affineur of the Year to create new products, including Bidlea Blue – a blue Cheshire wrapped in cider-soaked vine leaves. She also plans to take young Appleby’s Cheshire cheeses and mature them in different ways in a new maturing room.
Affineur of the Year, which was launched in 2022, sees competitors mature different cheeses in unique ways with entries judged by a team of experts. This year’s cheeses are: Quicke’s cheddar; Cropwell Bishop stilton; Baron Bigod brie; White Lake’s goat’s cheese Rachel; and Gorwydd Caerphilly.
The final in London on 16th June will include a preceding education day, plus a new category: the Rising Star Award, the winner of which will receive a scholarship to Mons Formation’s affinage course in France. The overall winner will win an all-expenses paid trip to New York to work in the caves of US cheesemonger Murray’s.
academyofcheese.org/awards/affineur-of-the-year/
This article first appeared in the April 2026 issue of Fine Food Digest.
