Something pretty special happened last week… Rennet & Rind won Affineur of the Year. Again.
On Tuesday 3rd June, we brought home the top prize at the Academy of Cheese’s Affineur of the Year 2025 – making it our third win out of the four times the competition’s been held. And honestly, we’re still trying to wrap our heads around it.
This year’s winning cheese? A clothbound Quicke’s cheddar we named Dillon. We pushed it hard – aged it warm, aged it humid, stripped the cloth early, then ran a spiked roller over it to drive that deep rind flavour all the way in. It was bold. Risky. A bit mad. But it paid off.
The judges thought so, too. We were up against some of the finest names in British cheese – people we admire, respect, and learn from. And yet, somehow, we came out on top. Again.
What Is Affineur of the Year?
If you’re new to all this, Affineur of the Year is one of the most exciting competitions in British cheese right now. You get given a cheese – this year there were five different categories including Cheddar, Caerphilly, Blue Shropshire, Baron Bigod, and Solstice – and your job is to mature it. That’s it. But also… that’s everything.
Because affinage isn’t just about waiting. It’s about listening to a cheese as it changes. Tweaking the environment. Testing. Trusting. And sometimes just stepping back and letting it do its thing.
This year saw 43 entries, and the standard was phenomenal – cheeses washed in cider, wrapped in petals, even slathered in flavoured paste. The room was full of brilliant, slightly unhinged, deeply passionate people trying to pull something amazing out of milk, microbes and time.
Why It Matters
For us, winning isn’t about a trophy or a title. It’s about what it says for British cheese, and the work behind the counter that most people never see.
Affineurs are like stagehands in a theatre – hidden in the wings, making sure everything shines when the curtain lifts. Competitions like this give us a platform to share that craft. To show that British cheeses don’t just compete on the world stage – they set it.
And it’s not just us. Huge congratulations to The Fine Cheese Co. for their incredible showing across multiple categories, and to Roger Longman at White Lake for Best Blue. Every win is a win for the whole movement.
A Thank You From Us
We couldn’t have done this without the Rennet & Rind team – from the shop in Stamford to the maturing rooms in Cambridge. You make this all work, day in and day out.
Big love to the Academy of Cheese for building this brilliant platform, and to the judges – including industry legends like Laurent Mons and Patrick McGuigan – who tasted, scrutinised and celebrated our cheese.
And to everyone who came along, tasted Dillon, and had a chat – thank you. You make this industry what it is.
Here’s to the cheeses, the chances we take, and the ever-growing world of British affinage.
Keep on maturing.