Woodside’s Section28 Artisan Cheeses win delicious. Produce Awards for Monforte Grande Reserve cheese

An SA cheesemaker has won a national award for their produce, with one judge saying it was “incredible to have this kind of cheese in Australia”.

Kym and Joanne Masters from Section28 Artisan Cheeses, who have won the dairy award at the delicious. produce awards for their Monforte Grande Reserve. Picture: Kelly Barnes

Kym and Joanne Masters are milking it for all it’s worth now that their high-end cheese has won a top prize in the prestigious delicious. Harvey Norman Produce Awards.

The husband and wife owners of Woodside’s Section28 Artisan Cheeses won the From The Dairy trophy for their Monforte Grande Reserve.

Barossa food identity Maggie Beer was honoured for her Outstanding Contribution to Australian Food.

The overall Producer of the Year award went to NSW’s Burraduc Buffalo Dairy.

Made in 2020 and aged for more than 600 days, Section28’s raw-milk semi-hard cheese, Monforte Grande Reserve, draws inspiration from cave-aged French Comte.

But it is firmly in its own lane, having been voted the best dairy product in the delicious. Produce Awards.

Mr Masters said the winning cheese was the result of “exceptional milk” and handling by the cheesemaker and affineur, who ages the cheese, all having a “symbiotic relationship”.

“All of these things came together,” he said.

“It’s the reserve version of one of our regular cheeses … (reserve cheeses) are aged for two to three years.”

Sold direct to chefs for between $85 and $90 per kilogram, Montforte Grande Reserve has a “dynamic” flavour, Mr Masters said.

“It’s almost like roast chicken skin,” he said, adding: “It’s great on a cheese plate, but also really amazing in a gratin or cheese sauce and, if you really want to be indulgent, cheese toasties.”

Judged by some of the country’s most respected chefs including Matt Moran, the annual awards champion Australia’s best food and artisan food producers.

National judge and chef Lennox Hastie said Mr Masters was a true craftsman dedicated to creating outstanding alpine-style cheeses.

Mr Hastie said the cheeses celebrated the quality of the local raw milk and unique terroir of the Adelaide Hills.

“It is incredible to have this type of cheese available in Australia,” he said.

While Section28 has already won a number of awards and medals both in SA and nationally, Mr Masters said the delicious. win was a coup.

“It is independently judged by chefs who are our target market,” he said.

“What we’re doing in the Adelaide Hills has been recognised nationally as an exceptionally high product.”

Among a small group of cheesemakers producing aged varieties, Section 28, which Mr Masters founded in 2010 as a one-man operation, is still a “very small business”.

With only six full-time staff and a major expansion due to be completed by mid-November, the Masters are planning to hire a cheesemaker or two.

Other SA winners in the awards were Irina Satiago-Brown, from Inkwell Wines, who was named Outstanding Viticulturalist, and Kangaroo Island’s Paroo Premium Kangaroo for Outstanding Sustainability.

See the full list of winners at delicious.com.au/produceawards.

Originally published as Woodside’s Section28 Artisan Cheeses win delicious. Produce Awards for Monforte Grande Reserve cheese