Swiss Gruyère Named World’s Best Cheese - Again

A Swiss Gruyère, made by Michael Spycher of Mountain Dairy Fritzenhaus, has beaten all competition to win the World Cheese Contest in Wisconsin, for the second year in a row.

They say the cream rises to the top and that is certainly the case with a cheese called Gourmino Le Gruyère AOP, a Swiss Gruyère milk cheese that comes from a small producer that works with just 12 dairy farmers within a 5km radius.

The World Cheese Contest

The World Cheese Contest is the largest technical cheese, butter and yogurt competition in the world. This year it featured producers from 29 different countries across categories for sheep milk cheese, goat cheese, soft and hard cheese.

Local Wisconsin cheese producers fared very well in the competition, submitting 932 entries, having seven of the 20 finalists, and winning 45 best-of-class categories. Judges tasted different cheeses over the course of the three-day event with many technical experts making up the judges, including Michelin-starred chefs.

What is the 'Best Cheese in the World'?

While Swiss Gruyère, made by Michael Spycher of Mountain Dairy Fritzenhaus in Switzerland, can lay claim to be the world’s best cheese, other competitions have been won by other producers. A soft Spanish goat's cheese called Olavidia won the top prize at the World Cheese Awards in November 2021, beating more than 4000 entries from over 40 countries on five continents.

The French often lay claim to have the best cheese in the world, however Switzerland, Spain, Italy and Great Britain have more than caught up with them in recent years.