Wensleydale Creamery Reigns Supreme at The National Cheese Awards

The Wensleydale Creamery is celebrating further ‘supreme’ success today, having been crowned Supreme Champion of The National Cheese Awards at the Royal Bath & West Show, picking up several awards for products including our famous Yorkshire Wensleydale and traditional old-fashioned style Kit Calvert Wensleydale, plus our best selling Yorkshire Wensleydale & Cranberries.

The 150^th Royal Bath and West Show in Somerset is one of the oldest surviving  agricultural shows in England, taking place over four days from May 29 to June 1. It features The National Cheese Awards, comprising of 67 categories including the highest number of cheddar classes in the country.

Judges presented the awards on Wednesday 29 May, following over 700 entries from highly competitive cheese and dairy produce classes. The Wensleydale Creamery was crowned Supreme Champion for our hand-crafted traditional Double Gloucester, cementing our reputation as one of the nation’s great cheesemakers, following the Supreme Champion Award win at The British Cheese Awards last September also. In total we won five cups, six gold, three silver and two bronze awards for our range of handcrafted cheeses at The National Cheese Awards.

Based at Hawes in the heart of the Dales, the Wensleydale Creamery handcrafts its cheese to time-honoured recipes, using milk from local family farms to ensure the quality and authenticity of its cheese.

David Hartley, Managing Director of The Wensleydale Creamery, said: “We are delighted to have been awarded the coveted Supreme Champion accolade, among some very strong competitors at The National Cheese Awards in Somerset this week.

“Following our previous win at The British Cheese Awards at the end of last year, it is great that our products are again recognised for their outstanding quality.  This is testament to the skill and dedication of our whole team here in Wensleydale, with special credit to our talented cheesemakers.  It is also a fantastic achievement for our dedicated local farmers, being a reflection of their high quality milk which is at the heart of our truly special cheese.”

Due to the increasing demand for our range of handcrafted, award winning cheeses, the Wensleydale Creamery has plans to redevelop our Creamery at Hawes, with a planning application being approved last month by the Yorkshire Dales National Park.  With the building works due to start in 2014, the new Creamery will ensure a sustainable future for Yorkshire Wensleydale cheese production in the heart of Wensleydale for generations to come.

Overview of The Wensleydale Creamery’s wins at The National Cheese Awards 2013 at The Bath & West Show in Somerset:

Cups

– Supreme Champion – Double Gloucester

– The Aplin & Barrett Perpetual Challenge – Trophy for most points in classes 13-22 (Territorial Cheese classes)

– The Cheesemakers Trophy for excellence in cheese making for gaining the most points in classes 1-22 (Cheddar & Territorial Cheese Classes) offered by J Sainsbury PLC

– The Anthony Rowcliffe & Son  Best Speciality Cheese Trophy

– The Villis Family Trophy for the best traditional bandaged wrapped cheese in the show

Gold

– Double Gloucester

– Yorkshire Wensleydale

– Tesco Finest Hawes Wensleydale

– Kit Calvert Old-Fashioned Wensleydale

– Smoked Yorkshire Wensleydale

– Red Leicester

Silver

– Yorkshire Wensleydale

– Yorkshire Wensleydale

– Yorkshire Wensleydale & Cranberries

Bronze

– Yorkshire Wensleydale

– 1897 Unpasteurised Wensleydale