Cheeseheads across Wisconsin can rejoice, as Fitchburg-based Emmi Roth USA took home top honors in the World Cheese Contest Wednesday.
Emmi Roth’s Grand Cru Surchoix, made in Monroe, beat out almost 3,000 entries to take home best in show at Monona Terrace. The smear-ripened, hard cheese garnered a score of 99.8 to beat out two European entries.
Tim Omer, president of Emmi Roth, told the Wisconsin State Journal the honor was “humbling.”
“Our cheesemakers in Monroe, our cheesemakers in Platteville and our cheesemakers in Shullsburg, they are killing it every day,” Omer said in the article.
Gov. Scott Walker, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and state Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, were among the dignitaries to congratulate Roth on its victory.
Another Wisconsin cheesemaker, Upland Cheese of Dodgeville, cracked the top 16 with their Extra Aged Pleasant Ridge Reserve.
The victory ended a streak of Swiss wins, with the central European country winning four of the past five championships. Switzerland’s Johannes Schefer took second place with their smear-ripened, semi-soft cheese.
