Havelock North's Te Mata Cheese Co has won gold at the world's largest cheese awards.
The company's Summerlee cheese took top honours in the fresh goats curd section of the Fromage du Monde awards in Sydney.
Te Mata was also awarded bronze in the brie and blue-mould categoriesat the event, judged by blindfolded members of the public.
Company founder Karryn Bish said the champion cheese surprised everyone, including the team.
"It's a great cheese and I love it but it's a little off the beaten track in terms of cheese style."
Master cheese-maker Jean-Luc Danquigny was credited with the win.
"He's been making cheese for 35 years and has a real passion for the traditional methods and doing things by hand, which allows us to produce such a high-quality product," she said.
The "fresh, lemony" cheese was a hit with restaurateurs and caterers but did not retail well at the company's store.
The process for making the cheese is closer to that of a yoghurt. Fresh goats' milk is brought in from a Tikokino farm, pasteurised and a starter culture added before being fermented for four hours to produce the right acids. The cheese is then lightly set and put into pottles.
The two-year-old company, which also picked up six golds at New Zealand's 2006 Cuisine Champion of Cheese Awards in April, has a strong presence in the local market.
It is now focused on increasing exports, with the first shipment just off to Perth.
"That's really why we entered the competition," Mrs Bish said. "To get that Australian endorsement."
Predictably, the French cleaned up in the blue and brie sections, Italians with their hard cheeses and the English won the best cheddar.
Aged cheeses also fared better, bucking the trend for cheeses with longer shelf lives.
"And that's exactly what Te Mata's trying to deliver - cheeses that have matured a little before they're released to the public," Mrs Bish said.
