Artisan Cheeses from Around the Globe Shine at World Championship Cheese Contest

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Dairies from Wisconsin and beyond will have a chance to show off their best cheeses, butters, yogurt and dry dairy creations at the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association’s (WCMA) biennial World Championship Cheese Contest (WCCC), March 5–7 at the Monona Terrace Community & Convention Center, 1 John Nolen Drive, Madison. 

The WCCC is open to the public for preliminary rounds of judging from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesday, March 5 and Wednesday, March 6. “Folks are welcome to come during those times and watch judging. Samples will be available, and people can see the process up close and get a feel for what it takes to put on an event of this caliber and choose the next World Champion Cheese,” says Grace Atherton, communications director for WCMA.

The final announcement of the World Champion Cheese winner will be live-streamed Thursday, March 7 at 2 p.m. (worldchampioncheese.org/2024-champion).

The WCMA has hosted the WCCC biennially since 1957 (the WCCC also hosts the U.S. Championship Cheese Contest during odd numbered years). The WCCC originally began as a cheddar cheese competition. 

“Over the years, it has expanded to encompass more than 140 distinct entry classes, and thousands of individual product entries. It’s become the world’s premier cheese, butter, yogurt and dry dairy (products like whey protein powder) competition,” says Atherton.

Plenty of Cheddar

There’s still plenty of cheddar, along with multiple categories for mozzarella; provolone; a burrata category; asiago; parmesan; brick and Munster; Havarti; gouda; Latin American style melting, fresh and hard cheeses; wash rind/smear cheeses; and plenty more.

“What some folks might not expect is that we have many category entry classes for goat cheeses, sheep’s milk cheeses, and we’ve even had some donkey milk entries entered in various classes over the years,” notes Atherton. “We also have high-heat categories for pepper-flavored cheeses. Some judges get the distinction of going through and judging dozens of different medium or high-heat cheeses.”

New this year is a judging class exclusively for raclette, a rich, buttery cheese native to Switzerland. It’s traditionally served melted over potatoes, dill pickles or meats. Raclette has been featured on several food magazines and blogs of late, and its growing popularity earned it a class of its own in this year’s competition.

The WCCC is unique in that the classes change and adjust based on what WCMA sees in the industry. “The industry is seeing a rising trend among consumers of the popularity of cheese like raclette,” Atherton notes.

The WCMA received entries from diaries and cheese makers worldwide. Atherton confirms that they have officially received 3,302 entries for this year’s contest from hundreds of dairies and creameries. Wisconsin, our Dairy State, is well represented in this year’s contest, along with cheese makers throughout the U.S. and worldwide from countries such as Switzerland, Croatia, New Zealand and Japan.

The judging team is composed of dozens of expert technical judges that are elite dairy industry experts from around the globe. Atherton emphasizes that the WCCC is unique in that it is a technical competition, meaning that the judges are not factoring in their personal preference for cheese but instead are evaluating cheese on strict technical standards like flavor, body and texture, salt and color.

A gold, silver and bronze medal is awarded to the three highest-scoring entries in each class.

“When folks see the World Champion Cheese seal on a package of cheese at the grocery store, they know that that product has been judged by impartial technical standards and a team of experts that are the best in the world. We are proud to put on a competition of this caliber,” Atherton concludes. “We invite everyone to come out and visit us in Madison and see what it’s all about.”