New York City, New York – Columbia Cheese is pleased to announce that its 1655 Gruyere was awarded a Top 16 Super Gold at the 2012 World Cheese Awards. The traditional cheese received the highest score of any cheese from Switzerland and placed in the top sixteen against 2,700 entries from twenty-four countries.
1655 Gruyere is produced by master cheesemaker Jean-Marie Dunand at Fromagerie Le Cret and is aged at Fromage Gruyere SA. Gerald Roux, the CEO of Fromage Gruyere SA, oversees the 1655 selection in caves where experts habitually grade on texture, taste, consistency and condition. Only if the Gruyere meets the highest standard will the wheels receive a 1655 label. The cheese is a masterpiece produced by recognized experts in cheesemaking and affinage.
The World Cheese Awards are presented annually by The Guild of Fine Food in The United Kingdom. 255 judges from around the world evaluated 2,781 entries. This year, fifty-five cheeses were designated Super Gold, with a select sixteen chosen as the finest examples in the world. A complete list of the Super Gold winners can be accessed online at http://www.finefoodworld.co.uk/downloads/wca12_supergolds.pdf .
About 1655 Gruyere
1655 references the year that this local cheese took on the name “Gruière” as a proud representation of its region of origin in Switzerland. 1655 Gruyere is the finest pairing of the traditional skills of cheesemaker and affineur working closely together. In the county of Gruyere, where the crane (“grue”) flies high on flagpoles, Gruyere SA is the only affineur to have the privilege of using this nobel emblem. For almost a century, located at 2900 feet in the alpine area of Bulle, Switzerland, Gruyere SA has been carefully tending only to Gruyere three stories below ground. There is no hiding behind “caves”. The devoted relationships between the farmers, cheesemaker Jean-Marie Dunand and Gruyere SA make sure of it. Fromagerie Le Cret, a small village dairy dedicated to 1655 Gruyere, delivers its young raw cow’s milk wheels of cheese direct to nearby Gruyere SA and there they remain for at least a year and until perfectly ready. Fromagerie Le Cret produces on average just eighteen wheels per day. The wheels must be carefully tended to and are given very special treatment with washings of pure Swiss salt “sel des alp” from the Bex mines. The cheese is consistently examined and each month a trio of professionals representing cheesemaker, Gruyere association and affineur test for texture, taste, consistency and condition. The dairies have and are required to maintain scores above nineteen points (out of a possible twenty) for the previous five years of production. The result is a well-aged wheel consisting of a beautifully burnished, pebbly rind and a paste that balances nutty sweetness with roasting meat and embedded fruit notes, speckled with tiny crystal pinpoints.
About Columbia Cheese
Based in New York City, Columbia Cheese is raising flavor profiles from cheesemakers to cheesemongers. We partner with innovative producers around the world to source the most distinctive, best in class cheeses for our customers. The skills of our master cheesemakers are based on their years of practice and heritage from generations of cheesemakers before them. We champion these devoted cheese heroes in places they may never visit, going deep into education and training on all levels from distribution to the local cheese shop.
Source: Columbia Cheese