Wensleydale Creamery celebrates prestigious awards success

The Wensleydale Creamery, based in Hawes in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales, is celebrating a full sweep of wins at the International Cheese and Dairy Awards (ICDA), along with Reserve Supreme Champion cheese at this year's Great Yorkshire Cheese and Dairy Show.

As the world’s largest cheese and dairy awards, the ICDA showcases over 4,500 cheeses from across the globe and champions the leading cheese and dairy producers.

Amongst the awards haul, the Creamery’s highlight was taking home the Perpetual Challenge Cup; a trophy awarded for the Best Blue Cheese (excluding Stilton), for its Wensleydale Blue cheese.

Its iconic creamy, crumbly Yorkshire Wensleydale (PGI) took two golds in the Wensleydale classes, along with a gold award for its brand-new Yorkshire Wensleydale with Cranberries, Orange & Cointreau which is due to launch later this year.

The Wensleydale Creamery also triumphed across the retailer classes, securing wins for its range of cheeses that are crafted and created especially for some of the UK’s leading supermarkets, including a gold win for its Yorkshire Wensleydale with Mango & Ginger sold in Morrisons, alongside another Gold for Davidstow Cheddar & Chilli sold in Waitrose.

Wensleydale Creamery’s success continued at this year’s Great Yorkshire Show, which attracts 140,000 visitors over four days, with nine awards as well as the honour of being awarded the prestigious Reserve Supreme Champion cheese for its iconic Yorkshire Wensleydale. With one judge remarking that it was “by far the best in class!”, and another commenting “this cheese has that extra spark”, this was a huge win for the Yorkshire-based cheesemaker. Its Yorkshire Wensleydale cheese, which carries official PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) status, also received gold in the Wensleydale class and was judged to be Best Territorial Cheese from across the UK, a particularly special accolade, up against some tough competition.

Awards were also received for its Naturally Smoked Cheddar, Yorkshire Butter, and Wensleydale Blue.

Sandra Bell, marketing manager at the Wensleydale Creamery, commented: “We are really proud of the whole team that craft our fantastic range of cheese which all starts with the high-quality milk supplied by our local farmers. It’s an honour to be recognised at these shows with such incredible awards, which are testimony to our quality. Both shows really do celebrate the best of the best in the cheese and dairy industry, so we’re thrilled to have received fantastic results and silverware!”