2002 AWARD WINNERS

Once the judges have chosen the Gold, Silver and Bronze medal winners, only the Gold medal winners are put forward in each category as contenders for the Best of Category. The following are the winners from 2002 with the sponsors of each Award - complete with tasting notes.

Supreme Champion
Innes Button Natural

Sponsor - Waitrose

Highfields Farm Dairy

Tasting notes: A tiny goats cheese that is perfection in itself - soft almost mousse like, it melts in the mouth releasing its subtle lemon zest freshness with hints of green walnuts and white wine on the finish. Also Supreme Champion 1994 - what a star.

Cheese Lovers' Trophy

Allerdale

Sponsor - BBC Good Food Magazine

Thornby Moor Dairy*
Tasting Notes: A hard goat cheese it has had time to develop layers of different flavours - first the aromatic taste of the milk followed by almonds, pear drops and even lychees. Cheshire like in texture it is very appealing.

Best Scottish Cheese

Strathdon Blue

Sponsor - A McLelland & Son

Highland Fine Cheeses
Tasting notes: The pale blue veins are well spread though not dense through this delicious spicy cheese. The natural acidity is well balanced by the creamy texture and the overall effect is mellow aromatic and very more-ish.

Best Irish Cheese

Mature Cratloe Hills Gold

Eugene Burns Memorial Trophy

Cratloe Hills Sheep Cheese*
Sponsor - Irish Food Board  
Tasting notes: A bold, terracotta-coloured truckle with a rustic elegance - hard, and grainy each bite reveals a complexity of flavours - apples, roasted onions and burnt caramel. Irresistible.

Best Welsh Cheese

Cilowen Organic

Dougal Campbell Memorial Trophy

Llanboidy Cheesemakers*

Sponsor - WDA Food Directorate
Tasting notes: A small drum shaped truckle with hard, compact texture that seems almost to melt in the mouth - similar in style to Cheddar but with its own distinct savoury character that hints of wild onions.

Best English Cheese

Daylesford Organic

Patrick Rance Memorial Trophy

Daylesford Creamery*

Sponsor - The Countryside Agency
Tasting notes: A cheddar-type cheese with its own charm and individuality - hard yet chewy with a rich full-bodied tang that mellows out to a savoury lingering finish. A new comer with a great future.

Best Fresh Cheese

Innes Button Natural

Sponsor - De Gustibus Bread

Highfields Farm Dairy
Tasting notes: A small round pure white goat cheese that has a subtle yet distinct character that has gone on to win Supreme Champion - the first cheese ever to win the Supreme Award twice.

Best Soft White Cheese

Windwhistle Organic Brie

Sponsor - Nairn Oatcakes

Lubborn Cheese Ltd*
Tasting notes: Its wonderful voluptuous interior almost runs to meet you - rich yellow in colour, with a taste like warm melted butter, fresh mushrooms and freshly cut grass. Delicious!.

Best Semi-Soft Cheese

Celtic Promise

Sponsor - Jeroboams Affineur

Teifi Farmhouse Cheese
Tasting notes: This small dumpling-shaped, washed-rind cheese has a distinctive orange-pink mould that demands to be tried while the flavour is strong pungent even spicy with a savoury finish.

Best Cheddar

Extra Mature Cheddar

Sponsor - Waitrose

Dairy Crest (Davidstow)
Tasting notes: With a record 138 entries in this prestigious class, this cheese had to fight off some very powerful opposition but its strong, outspoken character and lingering savoury tang won over the judges.

Best Territorial (Non Cheddar)

Trad Red Leicester

Sponsor - Fruition Group

Wensleydale Dairy Products
Tasting notes: The first Red Leicester to win an award. It is a cheese with a strong personality and classic bright orange colour - mellow, well rounded, nutty and very more-ish.

Best Modern British Cheese

Mature Cratloe Hills Gold

Sponsor - Huge Cheese Company

Cratloe Hills Sheep Cheese*
Tasting notes: A superb example of a hard ewe's milk cheese that reflects the character of the region and of the wonderful rich sheep's milk produced on their own farm. Also winner Best Irish Cheese.


Best Blue Cheese

Blue Swaledale

Sponsor - Les Routiers

Swaledale Cheese Co
Tasting notes: Best known for their traditional hard dales cheeses they have produced a winner with this small, crusty blow - spicy, slightly salty with a creamy feel and surprisingly mellow character.

Best Flavour-Added Cheese

Bradbury's Wholenuts

Sponsor - Bradbury & Son*

David Williams Cheese
Tasting notes: A pale yellow cheese liberally sprinkled with large chunks of fresh crunchy walnuts that combine well with the mellow character of the firm yet moist texture of the cheese. A good balance of flavours.

Best New Cheese

Gortnamona

Sponsor - Tom Wood Brewery

Cooleeney Farmhouse Cheese*
Tasting notes: A tall, soft white cheese with a soft, mushroomy rind beneath which is a pale, creamy interior on the run - almondy, aromatic with a subtle hint of goat's milk. Catch it if you can.

Best Creamery Cheese

Mature Cheddar I

Sponsor – Rhodia Food UK

Glanbia Foods (Taw Valley)
Tasting notes: Taw Valley cheddars have won this Award 4 times in the last 6 years and this is the second win for this cheese - what a star with its savoury, mouth-watering tang.

Best Other Export Cheese

Stinking Bishop (E)

Sponsor – Food From Britain

Charles Martell & Son*
Tasting notes: Winner of the same Award last year it is washed in fermented pear juice or Perry ensuring it develops a smelly pungent, orange sticky rind. Named after an old variety of local pear - Stinking Bishop.

Best British Cheeseboard

Stephen Reynolds

Sponsor - Fonseca Port

The Stagg Inn*
The Stagg Inn at Titley, is a popular gastronomic destination in Herefordshire but won over all the other entrants because of its excellent range of well described and deliciously ripe, mainly local cheeses and a great selections of wine and Ports to compliment them. A Cheese lovers haven.

Best Article Profiling British Cheese

Tamasin Day Lewis

Sponsor - Dairy Crest*

Saturday Telegraph
Tamasin writes with passion and great insight on all aspects of food but it is impossible not to notice that the British cheesemakers have captured her heart. She has written several excellent pieces on cheese and the Awards and her piece this year "Cheddar Gorgeous" was original, fascinating and informative.

Best Organic Cheese

St Tola Fresh Crottin

Sponsor - Anthony Rowcliffe & Son

St Tola
Tasting notes: This slightly aged soft goat cheese has developed a gorgeous, wrinkly rind with a dusting of white mould - at first it is subtle and creamy but it soon yields up its distinct, aromatic goaty nature.

Best Blue Export Cheese

Oxford Blue (E)

Sponsor - Coombe Castle International Ltd

Oxford Cheese Company
Tasting Notes: This small grey crusty truckle is as outspoken and forthright as its maker, Baron Pouget - creamy with a distinct, spicy blue tang that fills the mouth with an explosion of flavours. A great ambassador.

Cheese Person of the Year

Joe Schneider

Sponsor - Daylesford Creamery*

Daylesford Creamery*
An American with a passion for cheese Joe has finally repeated his rewards with a superb win tonight. Despite being his first year at Daylesford he has found time to help the British Cheese Awards and was unanimously by the team as this year's winner.

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Some of these cheeses are widely available; others are only sold in a few shops. To track them down contact one of the Mail Order companies or cheese shops in The Cheese Wire (to be found on this web site).