One of the most dramatic finales in World Cheese Awards’ history saw a 24-month-old Comté PDO Forte des Rousses, produced by Juraflore, named as the best cheese in the world in 2026.
At the end of the final judging round, the Alpine cheese was tied with another Alpine heavyweight – and 18-month Le Gruyère AOP from Gourmino in Switzerland – and an Ossau Iraty AOP made by Agour in France.
With all three cheeses left on a score of 81 by the Awards’ Super Jury panel of judges, the deadlock was broken by a rarely deployed tiebreak protocol: subtracting every cheeses lowest and highest score from each member of the panel.
“What I liked about this cheese was the complexity,” said judge Rafa Dominguez Gonzalez, who championed the winning Comté on the final panel. “It evolves in the mouth. Those beautiful, nutty savoury flavours really left a mark on me. Sometimes you just know. The moment I tried this one I said straight away ‘This is my choice’.”
Fourth time entrant in the World Cheese Awards, Fromageries Arnaud founder Jean-Charles Arnaud is the third generation in his family to make and mature cheeses across dozens of traditional “fruitières”, joined now by his son Franck Arnaud at Fromageries Arnaud (est. 1907).
While they are 14 times winners of the Concourt Général Agricole Gold Medal , this did not dampen their victory in the World Cheese Awards.
“We’re very proud, for the milk producers, for the cheesemakers, for the affineurs, for everybody – for the whole company,” Arnaud told FFD.
“It’s a real family affair, we’re from the mountains in the Jura and make the four AOP cheeses Comté, Morbier, Mont d’Or, Bleu de Gex du Jura, but specialise in quality, long maturing cheeses in an emblematic area, The Fort des Rousses” – both a ‘Living Heritage Company’ and a ‘Remarkable Site of Taste’ – French designations of traditional food production regions.
They have hundreds of traditional, natural caves in which the cheeses are matured, he added, and “we can have really different atmospheres in there, indeed very small Comté Juraflore, 18 months, where we seek out an aromatic complexity, texture. We’re all but the largest producers [of Juraflore Comté] – we represent roughly 12% of production, but we’re really centred on quality.”
“For us it is major, we are located on mountain roads at the heart of a natural park, the microbial diversity of our milk on a daily basis is essential – then using affinage methods that perpetuate the very oldest production methods.”
The World Champion cheese was one of 5,330 entered in this year’s competition, hosted in the Andalusian city of Córdoba on 12th November 2026.
It was the fourth time the awards came to Spain, after Oviedo in 2021, San Sebastián in 2016 and Gran Canaria in 2009.
Alongside local partner Instituto del Queso, they were organised as part of Andalucia-Gusto del Sur International Cheese Festival – an event for both the trade and consumers – showcasing cheese from around the world, discussing the future of cheesemaking and trade, with tastings, panel discussions and tours of the WCA arena.
With a record number of entries this year, from 45 countries, the Guild’s panel of 270 judges were equally as diverse, with top professionals hailing from 51 countries.
The process, held at the Córdoba Exhibition, Fair and Convention Centre, took a full day. The first round of judging lasted three hours, during which professionals from across the industry – including cheesemongers, wholesalers, educators, and journalists – blindly assessed the appearance, aroma, body and texture of the cheeses, awarding the highest proportion of points for good flavour and mouthfeel.
The number of points allocated at this stage determined whether a cheese won a medal – Bronze, Silver or Gold award. After they scored all of them, judges picked their ‘Super Gold’ among the Gold medallists.
These 108 Super Gold cheeses were tasted again by a carefully selected panel, the Super Jury, all 14 of whom then picked their finalist to champion in the very last round. This took place on stage and live on the dedicated WCA TV channel, and determined the World Champion Cheese.
Among the top 14 this year included a 30-month-old Parmigiano Reggiano and a torta-style Queijo de Ovelha Curado, from Portugal. The full list is below.
Trophies – to be announced on Monday 16th November, and published online at gff.co.uk/worldcheese– will be awarded to the top in their class – best blue, for example, and best smoked cheese – and as the best from their countries of origin.
Alongside the World Cheese Awards were the finals of the Academy of Cheese (AoC) Young Cheesemonger of the Year competition – testing eight professionals from around the world on their knowledge, practical skills and creativity.
Finalists included Chanel Johnson from Cheese Boatshed in Western Australia, owner of New York’s Curd Nerd, Sarah Simiele, Ophélie Beill from Crémerie du Faubourg in Montpellier, France and Molly Powell of London’s Neal’s Yard Dairy.
The winner was Molly Powell, and as well as a place on the AoC’s Level 2 course, will be invited to join the judging panel at the World Cheese Awards in 2027.
The top 14 cheeses in the World as decided at the World Cheese Awards 2026 are:
- Comté PDO Fort des Rousses, 24 Months from Fromageries Arnaud in France, www.juraflore.com
- Ossau-Iraty from Agour in France, www.agour.com
- Le Gruyère AOP réserve from village dairy Rossens from Gourmino in Switzerland, www.gourmino.ch
- Erborinato di Capra from Latteria Sociale Di Cameri in Italy, www.latteriadicameri.it
- Queijo de Ovelha Curado – SoalheirAlves from Joaquim António Duarte Alves & Filhos in Portugal, www.soalheiralves.pt
- Curado Fuente La Sierra from Queseria Fuente La Sierra in Spain, www.fuentelasierra.com
- KALTBACH Appenzeller from Emmi Group in Switzerland, www.emmi.com
- Riserva del Fondatore Special Edition from Caseificio Il Fiorino in Italy, www.caseificioilfiorino.it
- Stärnächäs Extra 10 from Affineur Walo von Mühlenen in Switzerland, www.affineurwalo.ch
- Tomme Agnès from Gourmino, in Switzerland, www.gourmino.ch
- Queso Curado de Cabra con Flores Comestibles from Queronsa in Spain, www.queronsa.es
- Parmigiano reggiano DOP 30 Months from Consorzio Gourm.it in Italy, www.gourm.it
- Queso de Oveja Viejo El Roble De Campollano from Food Manchegos in Spain, www.quesoscampollano.com
- Blu Notte – La Fossa dell’Abbondanza from Italian Food Hunters Artisanal National Cheese Team in Italy, www.italianfoodhunters.com
