Cheese producers from across the Swiss cantons came together on September 22 and 23 to compete in the Swiss Cheese Awards in Valais. Marc Delacombaz from the Laiterie-Fromagerie in Montbovon was crowned “Swiss Champion” for his Gruyère AOP entry.
More than 1.000 Swiss cheeses entered the Swiss Cheese Awards in 2022, with judges flying in from nations as far afield as Japan and New Zealand to help sample the cheeses. 32 cheese categories were part of the competition and each cheese producer was able to submit just one entry per category.
While the competition is naturally a tense time for cheese producers, it is also an intense event for the judges. As part of their job, judges are required to taste 40 different kinds of cheese for around six hours, while focusing on the flavour, smell, texture and overall appearance of each entry.
The competition was created in 2000 as a way to draw more attention to Switzerland’s finest cheese-makers and the cheeses they produce. The winners of the earliest stages of the competition then take part in a final round on the last day of the event, where non-Swiss judges crown the “Swiss Champion” of the whole competition.
The competition’s project manager told Blick about the difficult task of judging the cheeses in the event. Choosing the best cheese is more "a choice of the heart, as it is difficult to compare a Gruyère with a goat's cheese", they stated. This year, it was Marc Delacombaz from the Laiterie-Fromagerie in Montbovon who was crowned champion for his Gruyère AOP.