Swiss Gruyère Triumphs as 2025 World Cheese Champion — 18-Month-Old Vorderfultigen Spezial Wins in Bern

A Swiss Gruyère, the 18-month-old Vorderfultigen Spezial from Bergkaserei Vorderfultigen, was crowned the 2025 World Cheese Champion in Bern on Thursday. The wheel, produced at a mountain dairy in the Gantrisch pre-Alps just south of the Swiss capital, beat a field of 5,244 entries from 46 countries to claim the top prize.

Perry Wakeman, the grand final judge, praised the cheese's presence and texture: "It's the kind of cheese that would make people get excited about cheese. It's a big old cheese — there's a lot going on. The texture is beautiful: it's flinty as you break it apart; the crystalline bits are so delicate. It is massive. It makes an impact."

Although the World Cheese Awards were created by the British-based Guild of Fine Food in 1988, this was the first time the competition has been held in Switzerland — a country with a long Gruyère tradition. Gruyère-style cheeses have previously won the overall title five times.

Appearance, nose, flavour

The contest spread across long tables draped in white cloths, where an international jury of 265 experts — cheesemakers, chefs, buyers, retailers and journalists from more than 40 countries — tasted and assessed every entry, many identified by their yellow aprons.

Polish cheesemaker Kuba Maziarczyk, a final-round judge, described the tasting process: "First of all, we're looking at the visual appearance of the cheese: how it looks from the inside and outside."

Judges then evaluated the "nose" — the aromas each cheese gave off — before focusing on flavour, the decisive element. An initial shortlist of standout cheeses was narrowed through subsequent rounds until a "super jury" of judges from 14 countries selected the champion.

French judge Laurent Dubois added: "Cheese must reflect its terroir; it must be balanced in terms of taste, aroma and texture. It shouldn't be too aged or too young. Cheese is always a question of harmony. That's why good cheeses are often those with a long tradition."

The joy of cheese

About 2,000 people watched the judging at Bern's Festhalle exposition hall. British food and drink broadcaster Nigel Barden said the competition's range — from blues to hard cheeses — kept the tasting lively: "Just when you think your palate's getting a little bit tired, suddenly a cheese comes along and really excites you."

John Farrand, managing director of the Guild of Fine Food, said the awards were founded to raise the profile of small cheesemakers at a time when dairy production had become more consolidated. "We wanted to remind the world that small can be beautiful in cheesemaking terms," he said.

Next year's World Cheese Awards will be held in Córdoba, Spain.