American artisan cheesemakers are turning regional milk into something with a name, a place, and a story worth remembering. In Vermont, winter milk becomes a spoonably soft cheese wrapped in spruce bark. In Wisconsin, sheep’s milk goes into a hand-finished cheese with a touch of pepper. In Ohio, a third-generation dairy farm supplies the milk for a Gouda named for Cincinnati. All three earned top honors at the American Cheese Society’s 2026 competition.
That recognition offers a concrete reason to look beyond the imported-cheese section, not evidence that American cheese has universally overtaken European traditions. Many American makers draw directly on those traditions while adapting them to their own milk, surroundings, and businesses. The result is a growing sense of regional identity: cheese that can introduce diners to Greensboro, Vermont, or Mowrystown, Ohio, as effectively as a familiar wine introduces its home region.
Three Award Winners Put Their Regions on the Map
Jasper Hill Farm’s Winnimere took first-place Best of Show at the 2026 American Cheese Society Judging & Competition, followed by Blakesville Creamery’s Artze and Urban Stead Cheese’s ’Nati Gouda. The results were announced July 8 in Louisville, Kentucky, after judging took place May 18–22 in Minneapolis. More than 1,600 entries from over 200 creameries across the Americas competed, so these were the winners of a substantial competition, not a ranking of every cheese sold in the United States.
“The quality of cheeses submitted this year was remarkable,” said Kari Skibbie, chair of the society’s Judging & Competition Committee. “Tonight’s celebration recognized the cheesemakers whose commitment to excellence and continuous improvement sets a high standard for the industry.” The event awarded 438 honors in total, showing that recognition extended well beyond the three Best of Show selections. A podium finish is the headline, but it is not the whole cheese board.
Winnimere makes the connection between milk and place especially visible. The washed-rind cheese is made from raw winter cow’s milk and wrapped in spruce bark, developing a soft interior and woodsy flavor. According to Food & Wine, Jasper Hill’s Ayrshire cows eat locally harvested dry hay that season, producing the rich milk this style requires. The cheese draws inspiration from traditional Jura Mountain cheeses, but its ingredients and production tie it firmly to Vermont.
“Winnimere is arguably the most terroir-driven cheese in our collection,” Jasper Hill co-founder and head cheesemaker Mateo Kehler told Food & Wine. Here, terroir means the connection between a food and the conditions of its place. Kehler explained that seasonal changes in the cows’ diet and lifestyle, along with colder temperatures and shorter days, produce “especially rich, buttery milk.” The season is therefore part of the cheese’s identity, not simply a marketing backdrop.
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Local Milk Travels Through Relationships, Not Just Labels
Artze, the second-place winner, provides a different model. Blakesville Creamery in Port Washington, Wisconsin, makes the soft-ripened sheep’s-milk cheese using milk from Ms. J & Co. dairy farm in Monroe. It is seasoned with Piment d’Espelette pepper for mild, sweet heat. That distinction matters: the cheesemaker and milk producer are separate businesses, yet the finished cheese still clearly identifies its regional dairy connection. “Local” does not have to mean everything happens on one property.
Artze ladles, salts, turns, and packages each wheel by hand. Head cheesemaker Veronica Pedraza described it to Food & Wine as “the antithesis to the modern world we are living in.” She describes the labor-intensive process this way, not to claim that all mechanized cheesemaking lacks quality. This example is informative because it’s specific: consumers can connect a named cheese to a named dairy and understand something about how it was handled.
Urban Stead’s third-place ’Nati Gouda likewise links a city business to a rural dairy. The Cincinnati cheesemaker uses Jersey cow’s milk from Bohl’s Jerseys, a third-generation farm in Mowrystown, Ohio. The cheesemaker makes the cheese in small batches, brining, drying, and aging it on poplar wood for 16 to 20 months. That long maturation develops its full flavor and crystallized texture while giving the milk a distinctly different form from a fresh dairy product.
The name references both its natural rind and Cincinnati’s nickname, “The ’Nati.” Co-founder Andrea Siefring-Robbins explained the local commitment: “As one of [fewer] than a handful of urban cheesemakers in the U.S., it is important to us to always stay true to who we are.” She also noted that Urban Stead made its first batches in February 2018, calling the Best of Show placement “an absolute pinch-us moment.” The award gives a relatively young producer national visibility without erasing its hometown identity.
The Bigger Story Is What Recognition Can Support
For Jasper Hill, awards have had consequences beyond a ribbon. Kehler said its 2006 Best of Show win for Cabot Clothbound “radically changed the trajectory of our business,” enabling faster investment in the local agricultural economy and returns for the community. That’s one producer’s experience, not proof that every award increases farm income. Still, it illustrates how attention to a finished cheese can support the agricultural relationships behind it.
Wisconsin’s results show another side of the story: regional depth rather than one breakout product. The state earned 124 awards in the 2026 competition, more than any other region; Vermont followed with 64. Wisconsin’s winners included producers working across numerous styles, from feta and yogurt to Gouda and Italian-style cheeses. These totals describe competition awards, not production volume, sales or a definitive measure of which state makes the best cheese.
“Wisconsin was built by generations of immigrants who brought their family traditions, recipes, and passion for cheesemaking,” said Marieke Penterman, founder and owner of Marieke Gouda. “That heritage became the foundation of the incredible cheese community we have today.” Her comments make an important connection: American regional cheese is not developing in isolation from the rest of the world. It often builds on inherited methods, then gives them a new home and a new local expression.
For shoppers, the useful question is not simply whether a cheese says “artisan.” Ask who made it, where the milk came from, and what makes that particular cheese distinctive. Winnimere’s winter milk, Artze’s Wisconsin dairy relationship, and ’Nati Gouda’s Ohio sourcing provide concrete answers. Together, they show how local dairy earns a larger place on the food map: not through a vague promise of authenticity, but through products whose origins and makers are worth knowing.
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