Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

Swiss fail to win at cheese worlds

Cheeses from Switzerland have only managed to finish second and third at the World Championship Cheese Contest in Madison, Wisconsin.

After winning the three previous competitions, the Swiss cheese makers lost out on Wednesday to a low-fat Dutch gouda named Vermeer in front of 400 spectators.

Dan Konz, a cheese grader from Minnesota, said the winning cheese stood out for its “nice, smooth, clean flavour. It had nice body and mouth-feel. A very clean taste.”

The two runners-up in the three-day contest were a smear-ripened semi-soft winzer from the Käserei Grundbach, a company in Wattenwil, canton Bern, and an Appenzeller cheese from SO Appenzeller Kase.

There were five Swiss cheeses among the 16 finalists and seven from the United States. The contest, held every two years in Madison, typically draws more than 2,000 entries from nearly two dozen countries.

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR