November 20, 2025, 9:04 am | Read time: 5 minutes
Attention cheese fans–there’s a new best cheese in the world. It was recently crowned at the World Cheese Awards. Why it was chosen and what makes it so special—TRAVELBOOK has the details.
This year, Switzerland is all about cheese more than ever. After recently hosting the Raclette World Championships, the country also held the World Cheese Awards. Included: a lot of cheese from Switzerland. To be precise: 948 types of cheese. This secured Switzerland the title of the country with the most entries. The world champion title followed later as well.
Overview
The World Cheese Awards
The Cheese World Championships were held from November 13 to 15 in Bern, marking the first time ever in Switzerland. This is despite the World Cheese Awards being held for the 37th time this year and Switzerland being a well-known cheese country. This year, 5,244 types of cheese from 46 countries participated.
During the World Cheese Awards, 2,469 types of cheese were awarded by 110 international teams, each with two to three jurors. According to The Guild of Fine Food, the 265 jurors evaluated the submitted cheeses based on “appearance, aroma, consistency, texture, and flavor.” They then awarded bronze, silver, and gold medals. Among the gold medal winners, super gold medals were selected. From these, a 14-member expert jury finally chose 14 finalists.
Host country Switzerland alone won awards for 597 types of cheese, ranging from bronze to super gold. Germany received 27 awards, while neighboring cheese country France had 61 winning cheeses. So, which cheese is the best of all?
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This Is the New World Champion Cheese
The Swiss Gruyère AOP Vorderfultigen Special is now the best cheese in the world. It received 85 points at the World Cheese Awards. The cheese world champion is produced by cheesemaker Pius Hitz and his team at the Bergkäserei Vorderfultigen in the mountains south of Bern. Currently, it cannot be ordered as the demand is so high that the online shop has been temporarily shut down (as of November 20, 2025). However, one might look forward to it based on the description on the Guild of Fine Food’s website.
According to the website, the jury praised “its crystalline texture and ‘broth-like’ umami flavor.” The Gruyère AOP Réserve with its dark orange rind has a “real beefy note,” is hearty and profound, as well as meaty, it says. One of the jurors stated: “It’s a big, old cheese; there’s a lot going on. The texture is beautiful, it’s rock hard when you break it, the crystals in it are so delicate. I kept going back to it.” Additionally, the cheese world champion seems to have a distinctive character. The juror explained: “Some people might recognize this cheese, but what you know about this cheese—that it’s meaty and hearty—imagine all that you’ve ever eaten, and then amplified 13 times.” The winning cheese leaves an impression and excites everyone. He also chose it because it is a cheese that “would excite people from all walks of life about cheese.”
According to the website, this is already the sixth time since the World Cheese Awards began that a Le Gruyère AOP has topped the podium. And this particular Gruyère is by no means the only cheese from the Bergkäserei Vorderfultigen that has triumphed at the World Cheese Awards.
The Winners of the World Cheese Awards
This year, second place went to a cheese from France: Crémeux des Aldudes aux Fleurs by Etxaldia. The flower-adorned cheese was just one point behind the Swiss winning cheese. In third place was another Swiss cheese: the nine-month-aged Appenzeller Edel-Würzig from Käserei Ifang.
Other cheeses from Switzerland, France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, the Netherlands, Japan, and Slovakia followed.
The 10 Best Cheeses in the World 2025:
- Gruyère AOP Vorderfultigen Special over 18 months, Bergkäserei Vorderfultigen, Switzerland (85 points)
- Crémeux des Aldudes aux Fleurs – Etxaldia, Etxaldia, France (84 points)
- Appenzeller® Edel-Würzig – aged 9 months, Käserei Ifang, Christian Tschumper, SO Appenzeller Käse, Switzerland (83 points)
- Gantrisch Mountain Cheese, Bergkäserei Vorderfultigen, Switzerland (81 points)
- Königs-Chäs Rezent, Rüttiberg Käse AG, Switzerland (78 points)
- Ossau-Iraty AOP pasteurized sheep cheese, Agour, France (78 points)
- Stockinghall, Murray’s Cheese, USA (78 points)
- Aged Rutland Red, Long Clawson Dairy, United Kingdom (76 points)
- Hechizo, Quesería La Zarcillera, Spain (76 points)
- Montana Intenso, Maaz Cheese, Netherlands (76 points)
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For those wondering about Switzerland’s huge success, John Farrand, the managing director of the Guild of Fine Food, has an explanation: “And there we have it: The host country once again takes the biggest prize in cheese. Maybe it’s because our jurors have delved deep into the nation’s terroir, maybe it’s simply because the cheese has a shorter distance to travel, but the fact is, this cheese won in our multi-stage and rigorous blind tasting process and achieved the highest score, impressing the super jury jurors from 14 different nations.”
So the Spaniards can already look forward to it: The next edition of the World Cheese Awards will take place in Córdoba, in the Spanish region of Andalusia.