Cheese Champions

A Wisconsin cheese, SarVecchio Parmesan produced by John Grifﬁths at Sartori
Foods in Antigo, Wis., captured U.S. Champion honors March 19 at the largest cheese
competition ever held in the United States.

More than 1,350 cheese and butters were submitted by artisans and manufacturers in the United States Championship Cheese Contest, held March 17-19 in Green Bay. Entries include everything from farmstead goat and sheep milk cheeses to mass-produced blocks of mild Cheddar cheese; from two-ounce buttons of soft-ripened cheese to 200-pound blocks of Swiss.

The Champion SarVecchio Parmesan was a 20-pound wheel of cheese that had
taken gold in the Parmesan category. The First Runner-Up to the U.S. Champion was also a wheel of cheese - a hard goat's milk cheese named Classico produced by cheesemakers at Tumalo Farms in Bend, Ore. McCadam Cheese and cheesemaker Pat Whalen, based in Chateaugay, N.Y., earned Second Runner-Up honors for a medium-aged Cheddar in a 40-pound block.

For a complete list of winners and more information on the contest, go to uschampioncheese.org