The World Cheese Awards first prize winner, a gruyère AOP special over 18 months cheese presented by Swiss cheese maker Hitz Pius, from the Vorderfultigen cheese company, during the 37th edition of the World Cheese Awards, in Bern, Switzerland, November 13, 2025. GABRIEL MONNET / AFP
A Swiss gruyère was crowned the 2025 World Cheese Champion on Thursday, November 13, seeing off competition from more than 5,000 rivals from 46 countries. The 18-month-old Vorderfultigen Spezial produced by Bergkaserei Vorderfultigen won the title at the World Cheese Awards, held in the Swiss capital Bern.
The winning cheese came from a mountain dairy in the pre-Alps region of Gantrisch, just south of Bern. Grand final judge Perry Wakeman said it was the kind of cheese "that would make people get excited about cheese." "It's a big old cheese – there's a lot going on. The texture is beautiful: it's flinty as you break it apart; the crystalline in there are so delicate," he said. "It is massive. It makes an impact."
It was the first time that the contest, created by the British-based Guild of Fine Food in 1988, has been staged in cheese-loving Switzerland – though gruyère cheeses have scooped the top prize five times before.
