Grandvewe Cheeses take home three World Dairy Innovation awards

Tasmania’s Grandvewe Cheeses has taken out three World Dairy Innovation Awards at a ceremony in Portugal.

Grandvewe Cheeses director Nicole Gilliver with her award-winning gin herbalist cheese. Picture: Zak Simmonds

RESPECT for the environment and an innovative mindset has landed Tasmania’s Grandvewe Cheeses three World Dairy Innovation Awards at a ceremony in Portugal.

The sheep farm, cheesery and distillery are situated on 32ha at Birchs Bay, 40 minutes south of Hobart, but this week the brand received international attention.

The Grandvewe gin herbalist cheese won best cheese and their all-new fresh curd with probiotics won best functional dairy.

Grandvewe’s sheep whey distillery, Hartshorn Distillery, also won the best dairy drink category for their sheep whey vodka.

Cheesemaker and director Nicole Gilliver said it was nice to receive recognition for the time, love and money her family had spent creating their unique dairy products.

“We are genuine in our approach to innovation and sustainability,” she said.

“We’re not the kind of people who can come up with an idea and stick with it for 17 years in its original format.

“We are always looking for an angle to take a very common product and challenge people’s conventional thought processes around that.”

The gin herbalist cheese is special because it allows Grandvewe to reduce waste in a 360 degree way.

Their sheep whey spirits are made from the by-product and then the native Australian botanicals from their Gin process is given back to the cheesery to reuse as flavour.

This is the first year Grandvewe Cheeses has entered the World Dairy Innovation Awards.