Whitestone Cheese has done it again.
At last week’s New Zealand Cheese Awards, the Oamaru cheesemaker won the champion commercial cheese — the most prestigious honour — for the second consecutive year with its Monte Cristo sheep’s milk cheddar.
Managing director Simon Berry believed it was the first time the same cheese had won back-to-back in the history of the awards.
It was the third time Whitestone had won the award, having previously done so with its Windsor Blue cheese. Monte Cristo, named after the Berry family’s old farm at Maheno, also won the original cheese trophy.
Mr Berry said a grass-fed milk supply from Sheep Milk New Zealand in Canterbury, combined with Whitestone’s semi-soft recipe (which dated back to the 1990s), consistency and attention to detail were the winning factors.
Mr Berry, who is also chairman of the New Zealand Specialist Cheesemakers Association, was both surprised and delighted to repeat the win.
A record 267 entries were received for the awards and the standard was very high, he said.
The domestic retail environment was very difficult to operate in at the moment, particularly for small producers, as getting into supermarkets was a challenge, as was remaining on the shelves.
Increasing imports were in the market and that was a challenge for domestic producers across all primary manufacturing, he said.
Mr Berry encouraged people to buy New Zealand made, saying it was worth supporting New Zealand industry, employees and farmers.