Wisconsin parmesan named big cheese

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- It was gorgonzola vs. gouda Thursday at Lambeau Field, but a Wisconsin parmesan came out on top in the cheese makers' Super Bowl -- the 2009 U.S. Championship Cheese Contest.

Twenty-four judges chose SarVecchio parmesan made by John Griffiths of Sartori Food Corp. as the top cheese among 1,360 entries. Griffiths was not at the contest, and Patrick Mugan, vice president of product innovation, didn't have time to call him before he was mobbed by reporters hungry for comment.

"It's a really great honor," Mugan said.

It also could help business.

"People see the awards, and they will actually put (the cheese) in their mouth and taste the wonderful flavors," Mugan said.

"Classico," a hard goat's milk cheese made by Team TFI One, a group of workers from Tumalo Farms in Bend, Ore., took second place. Third went to a medium cheddar made by Pat Whalen at McCadam Cheese in Chateaugay, N.Y. McCadam cheese maker Ken Root took the top honor in 2007.

That win helped boost McCadam's sales, although how much is tough to say because the cheese won awards in other contests, too, said Doug DiMento, spokesman for Agri-Mark, the farmer cooperative that owns the McCadam brand.

"We're real excited to win a national competition like that," DiMento said, adding that it boosts morale among farmers and salespeople as well as cheesemakers. "It makes a tangible difference in our marketing, which helps our sales."

The Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association hosts the national and world competitions in alternate years. Cheese makers generally do not attend. This year's winners will receive their awards April 23 at the Wisconsin Cheese Industry Conference in La Crosse, Wis.

Thursday, judges in white coats and hats rotated among half a dozen tables, evaluating 60 cheeses that had already been named the best in their categories. Judges pull a plug from each cheese, smell it and roll it in their fingers to test its texture before tasting it. But there's no eating -- judges spit out the samples when done.

That's largely a measure of self-preservation. During preliminary rounds, judges can sample 150 or more cheeses.

"You cannot ingest that much cheese," said Steve Ehlers, a judge and co-owner of Larry's Market in Milwaukee. He noted that one pair of judges tasted 35 pepper cheeses.

"You do that, and you're done," said Ehlers, who had an easier time judging the retail packaging division.

Neil Bogut judiciously avoided saying which cheese he picked for first. But he said he was impressed by several cave-aged cheeses that made the finals.

"I think it's going to be the next big thing," said Bogut, a former chef who now works for the consulting firm Randolph Associates Inc., in Birmingham, Ala.

Cheeses ripened in caves have a natural flavor because they are not rushed through the aging process, he said. Nearly any cheese can be finished that way. Bogut tasted cheddar, mixed-milk and others in the final round.

"They're beautiful," he said. "They just have a unique, nice flavor."

The three-day competition included 60 categories of cheese, two categories of butter -- salted and unsalted -- and two presentation categories. Entries ranged from 2 ounces of soft-ripened cheese to 200-pound blocks of Swiss.

The 60 cheese finalists will be auctioned at the cheese industry conference in April. About six years ago, someone paid $20,000 for a 40-pound block of cheddar, WCMA executive director John Umhoefer said. But the auction usually brings in about $60,000 to pay for the contest and continuing education for cheese makers.