Country Valley’s NSW Produce Award win is cream on the cake

Picton-based Country Valley’s Classic Cream has been judged a winner in the NSW Produce Awards and it’s now in the running to be crowned the best in Australia.

Picton's Country Valley owner John Fairley is overjoyed his Classic Cream has won at the NSW Produce Awards in the From the Dairy category.

• Country Valley fights back against milk monopolies
• Mike Baird fields questions from Macarthur region

IT’S official. Picton-based Country Valley’s Classic Cream is among the best in NSW.

The cream has impressed the judges in the 2016 NSW delicious Produce Awards and it was crowned a state winner in the From the Dairy category.

This is no easy feat as the NSW competition was judged by such high-calibre chefs as Alex Herbert, from Sydney’s Bird Cow Fish, Monty Kulodrovic, from the Icebergs Dining Room and Bar, The Dolphin Hotel, and Martin Boetz, from The Cooks Co-Op.

As a state winner, Country Valley, which has been owned and run for seven generations by the Fairley family, is now in the running to be named the best in Australia in the From the Dairy category winner.

John Fairley oversees the production of Classic Cream at the family’s Picton property.

The national winner will be chosen in a blind tasting by a judging panel of 39 food leaders including Maggie Beer, French-born chef Guillaume Brahimi, ARIA restaurant’s Matt Moran and Peter Gilmore, from Quay and Bennelong.

The winner will be announced in Sydney on Monday.

Country Valley owner John Fairley said the state win was very rewarding.

“It’s such a fantastic product, it blew the others out of the water,’’ he said.

“It’s always good to be acknowledged for what we are doing.

“What we go for is a high quality product all of the time.’’

Mr Fairley said the Classic Cream was made from local cow’s milk and pasteurised as gently as possible.

Mr Fairley said Classic Cream was natural and so much thicker than other brands.

“We don’t put any additives or change the fat content,’’ he said.

“It doesn’t get watery. It’s natural and so much thicker.’’

As a state winner, Country Valley also appears in the September edition of delicious magazine which will give the brand even more national exposure.

As reported in the Macathur Chronicle in May, Country Valley is flourishing at a time when the dairy industry is facing a nationwide downturn.

Son Tom Fairley told the Chronicle the family business was bucking the trend because it manufactured its milk, cream and yoghurt on the Picton farm under its own label and also bought milk from seven local farmer suppliers.

After the story was posted on the Macarthur Chronicle’s Facebook page, readers posted messages of support for the business, pledged to support them and wanted to know where to buy Country Valley.

“Our sales have been up 15 per cent since then,’’ Mr Fairley said.

“When you get that support from locals, it’s so pleasing and that’s what makes it worthwhile.

“We pay our dairy farmers 15 per cent above the normal price for milk and that’s what helps them to farm ecologically.

“We have to be different to compete in the market, our milk, cream and yoghurt are different.”