International win for stilton 'like a cheese Oscar'

Of all the brie-lliant cheeses, there could only be one overall winner.

A Leicestershire-made cheese has been named the Supreme Champion at the dairy industry's equivalent of the Oscars.

Long Clawson Dairy in Melton Mowbray received the prize for their British blue stilton at the International Cheese and Dairy Awards.

The event at the Staffordshire County Showground in Stafford attracted 5,500 entries from across the globe including the USA, New Zealand and Australia.

Bill Mathieson, from the winning Long Clawson Dairy, said the victory was like "winning an Oscar in our cheese industry".

He added stilton was "a bit of a national treasure" and he hoped their win would help people "reacquaint in love with it because it’s such a fantastic cheese".

“Stilton generally has had quite a tough time in the last few years with a lot of imported cheese coming in.

“It really is a bit of a campaign to save our stilton."

The event drew a lot of people from the cheese industry.

Among them, Shauna Clark Fitzpatrick, a buyer for Ocado, described the event as "Christmas Day for cheese lovers".

Judging of the entries was completed by a panel which included 300 experts including the American cheese and wine expert Michael Landis.

One of them, Wayne Johnson, said when he decided which cheese was best he was looking for "a rounded flavour with interesting characteristics".

Ocado cheese buyer, Shauna Clark Fitzpatrick (second left) described the event as "Christmas Day for cheese lovers"