Davenport, IA: Swiss Valley Farms and its subsidiary company, Caves of Faribault, took home two Best of Class wins for Mindoro Gorg and St. Pete’s Select at the 2013 U.S. Championship Cheese Contest, held March 12 – 13 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The contest, which is hosted by the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association (WCMA), is a biennial event that is the largest technical evaluation of cheese and butter in the country, attracting participants from across the nation.
St. Pete's Select blue cheese dominated the Blue-Veined Class with a score of 97.90. St Pete’s Select, which is Caves of Faribault's premium blue cheese, is handmade and then cave-aged in the sandstone caves of Faribault, MN. The cheese is named after the caves themselves, which are made from St. Peter’s sandstone. These caves have the ideal environmental properties to cure and age cheese. St. Pete’s Select is aged for over 100 days to display a complex flavor profile that is both sharp and creamy.
This victory was followed by word that Swiss Valley Farms Mindoro Gorg took the Best of Class honors in the Gorgonzola Class with a score of 98.20. Mindoro Gorg gorgonzola is handmade and then aged 90 days in Swiss Valley's Mindoro, WI blue cheese facility. Named for the town where it is hand-crafted, Mindoro Gorg displays a rich and buttery flavor profile.
“It is quite an accomplishment to win not just one, but two Best of Class awards at this prestigious competition,” noted Don Boelens, CEO for Swiss Valley Farms. “I am extremely proud of our cheesemakers as well as our farmers who supply the quality milk used to make these award-winning products.”
These cheeses now join the ranks of other Best of Class wins that the companies have accumulated in recent years
at the World Championship Cheese Contest, including Swiss Valley Farms Baby Swiss, which won a Best of Class in
2012 and AmaGorg, a cave-aged gorgonzola from the Caves of Faribault that took home the award in 2010.
Source: Swiss Valley Farms