Jasper Hill Farm secured the Best of Show title at the 2026 American Cheese Society competition. The winners were announced during the annual conference on Wednesday evening in Louisville, Kentucky. Several other offerings from the cheesemaker earned Best in Category wins, contributing to a record number of awards for Vermont-made artisan cheeses.
Out of more than 1,600 entries from across North America, two cheeses from Jasper Hill Farm placed among the top 10 highest scorers. The winning cheese, Winnimere, is a raw milk soft-ripened cheese made using milk from the farm’s own herd. The cheese is produced exclusively during the fall and winter when the cows consume dry summer hay and their milk contains the highest concentration of butterfat.
During the production process, young wheels of Winnimere are wrapped with a strip of locally harvested spruce bark to provide structure and a woodsy aroma. The cheese is washed with a salt brine during cave ripening to develop a rosy natural rind and distinct smoky flavors. This year’s win marks the second Best of Show title for Winnimere, which previously won the award in 2013.
Jasper Hill Farm co-founder and head cheesemaker Mateo Kehler stated that their cheeses are designed to create a sense of identity and connection to place. Kehler noted that the production model requires a commitment to quality over quantity to sustain a community within a landscape over generations. The farm has previously won the Best of Show designation four times, with additional runner-up or collaborative titles spanning multiple prior competition cycles.
The success of the artisan cheese model is visible across the region, with all 15 participating Vermont cheesemakers securing medals. Vermont makers took home a total of 54 ribbons, accounting for approximately 12% of the total awards handed out at the competition. This focus on value-added production has helped maintain local family farms through periods of market volatility.
Raw milk cheesemaking requires a dedicated milk source and rigorous quality standards throughout the process to preserve the natural flora in the milk. Jasper Hill Farm utilizes a scientific understanding alongside traditional methods and coordinates with regulators to ensure safety standards are met. About one-third of the farm’s cheeses are produced using raw milk from their own herd in a dedicated creamery.
Another third of the Jasper Hill Farm collection is manufactured at the Vermont Food Venture Center using pasteurized milk from three neighboring 50-cow dairies. These partner farms are paid double the commodity rate for their milk to help sustain family-scale operations. The remainder of the collection is produced by the farmer-owned Cabot Cooperative Creamery before undergoing cave-ripening at the Cellars at Jasper Hill.J
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