Australian Grand Dairy Awards: Victoria’s 2023 leading edge

The finalists for the Australian Grand Dairy Awards have been announced and Victoria is leading the pack.

Victorian dairy producers are already ahead of the pack in the race to win top honours at the Australian Grand Dairy Awards.

Seventeen manufacturers from Victoria have made the shortlist, followed by 12 from Queensland, 10 from Tasmania, six from Western Australia, five from South Australia and four from New South Wales.

AGDA chief judge Russell Smith said all products competing in the national awards had won in the 2022 qualifying state competitions.

“This year saw the continuing improvement in quality of the fresh unripened cheeses, especially the Italian style stretched curd cheese,” Mr Smith said.

“The quality of these cheeses has improved dramatically over the last decade to the point where the majority really are world class.

Australian Grand Dairy Awards chief judge Russell Smith

“I see in the retail market the positive response from consumers to not only the quality but also the innovation we’ve seen in the last few years.”

Expert judges spent three days in October tasting hundreds of products.

Out of the finalists, a winner will be chosen for each dairy category and the highest scoring dairy and cheese products will be crowned as the grand champions in February 2023.

In the fresh unripened cheese category, Florida, Montefiore and That’s Amore Cheese are the finalists while in the cheddar category, Brownes, Beston and Tasmanian Food Co are in the final three.

In the ice cream category, Gundowring Fine Foods, The Standard Market Company and Van Diemen’s Land Creamery have the competition licked while in the cream category it’s a three horse race between Ashgrove Cheese, Tasmanian Food Co. Dairy and Tweedvale Milk.