Pont Gâr Triumphs At World Cheese Awards

One of Wales’ latest soft cheese ranges - Pont Gâr - is adding to its already impressive silverware collection. The Carmarthenshire Cheese Company, established less than a year ago, won the ‘New Cheese – Blue’ award and the Welsh Assembly Government Trophy for the Best Welsh Cheese for their Pont Gâr Blue at the recent World Cheese Awards.

Hailed as the international Oscars of the cheese industry, the World Cheese Award honours the elite across a range of categories. Nearly 2000 entries were judged by 120 cheese experts at London’s Olympia on 14th March. Pont Gâr Blue succeeded in securing the gold prize for the ‘new cheese – blue’ category for cheeses first marketed after the 1st of March 2006.

The Carmarthenshire Cheese Company, founded in April 2006 by co-owners and husband and wife team Steve and Sian Elin Peace has enjoyed huge success. The company has won several awards at trade shows across the country including the prestigious title of Best New Dairy Product at the Nantwich International Cheese Show; reaching the finals in the prominent Tesco Cheese Challenge and gaining the title for the best bilingual packaging at Wales’s bilingual design awards.

Delighted with their win, Steve Peace founder of the Carmarthenshire Cheese Company commented, “It’s eleven months since we established Pont Gâr and whilst we’ve been extremely busy, each moment has been fantastic. We’ve gone from strength to strength winning awards at regional and national cheese shows however we’ve reached the pinnacle with this award at the World Cheese Awards. Receiving such accolades would not have been possible without the support of our staff and family – our success is testament to their hard work”.

Sian Elin, explaining how their award winning cheese is made comments, “Our cheese is produced in West Wales from the milk of one dairy herd at the Pant Gwyn Farm, Carmarthenshire. We’re very proud of our cheeses and are keen to maintain and promote high quality at all times, working with one dairy herd enables us to uphold our standards – ensuring our product is local and fully traceable”.

Foodies and customers alike will have an opportunity to savour this year’s winners during the International Food Exhibition (IFE ’07) at ExCel, London, from 18-21 March.

Pont Gâr is currently available in selected Tesco stores nationwide, delicatessens and artisan food shops and is available on their website: Carmarthenshirecheese.co.uk.