This week "Aragon en Abierto" of Aragon TV connected live from the set with our Dairy in Albarracin to celebrate the new 12 World Cheese Awards we won in the latest edition of this famous world event also known as "the Oscar of cheeses" .
The live broadcast was entertaining: From the same chambers where the different Sierra de Albarracín cheeses are stored ready to send to the gourmet market to the interior of La Cava de Mía with Alberto Asensio, CEO of Cheeses Sierra de Albarracín, as the guide to this gastronomic visit . Precisely in this cellar two of our most preciated cheeses have won two gold medals respectively: the soft cheese and the pressed cheese "La Cava de Mía".
Thanks again to Aragon in Abierto for the coverage of this important achievement for our cheeses that recognize us as the most awarded cheese factory in Aragon and the 2nd in Spain.
Last Friday November 2 took place the edition of the World Cheese Awards 2018-19, considered the "Oscar" of cheeses. The contest, which meet cheese producers, consumers, vendors, distributors, experts and food critics from around the world for more than three decades, once again broke the record of participation. This year was held in Bergen (Norway), there were sent 3,500 types of cheese from all corners of the planet to be judged in a single day by a professional jury composed of 230 experts from 29 nations.
Sara Narro (Communication Responsible) and Ximo Alpuente (Master Cheese Maker of Queso Artesano de Teruel SL)
During this frantic day of tasting, the judges, working in teams of three or four people, decided that cheeses were worthy of a gold, silver or bronze medal based on the appearance of the bark, body, color, texture, consistency and on everything, taste of each one.
12 new World Cheese Awards: 3 golds, 6 silvers and 3 bronzes.
And that's how the Sierra de Albarracín cheeses managed to obtain 12 new medals, making the Teruel dairy one of the most awarded of the event, with 3 gold, 6 silver and 3 bronze medals.
On this occasion, the winners of the three gold medals were the Red Wine Sheep Cheese, which renews the gold medal it won in 2012, and the cheeses from La Cava de Mía in their two varieties, soft and pressed paste.
La Cava de Mía is a project that the cheese factory launched in 2016 as an attempt to improve and differentiate, which was to create a place for cheese in which it could mature and refine in the same way it has done since time immemorial , in contact with nature and the materials that are extracted from it. Under these premises, La Cava de Mía is a singular space whose architecture represents that of a cave, but in which the temperature, humidity and aeration can be controlled, thus favoring a unique and specific flora for the cheese, so that the cheeses that they are made there are unique and genuine.
With 48 prizes, one of the most recognized cheese factories in Spain
The Albarracín cheeses awarded with a Gold medal at the World Cheese Awards 2018-19 pose with the Cava de Mía behind
With these twelve medals, there are already 48 awards that the Cheese Factory of Albarracín has managed to treasure in this contest, repeating as the most awarded cheese of Aragon and one of the most awarded in Spain. A huge achievement that may seem like a dream for this small cheese factory that began its journey twelve years ago, which defends the values of the traditional and the artisanal preparation and protects and pampers its product thus granting it the exclusivity it deserves.
Many thanks to all who have contributed their work and support to this new success.
One more year we have to celebrate the success of our cheeses at the World Cheese Awards. This time, Quesos Sierra de Albarracín received 8 medals consolidating this cheese factory as the most awarded in Aragon.
The 30th edition of the largest and most prestigious cheese contest in the world, the World Cheese Awards, took place with 3,001 varieties of cheese being judged in a single day during the London Festive Edition with a historical record of countries participating in the event.
The different participating cheeses arrived to London through 12 points of consolidation spread all over the world: Australia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Colombia and South Africa, among others. A total of 230 professionals from 29 different countries met to compose the jury in charge of tasting, sniffing and blindly qualifying the 3,001 varieties, and awarding the Bronze, Silver, Gold and Super Gold medals to the deserving cheeses.
This professional jury was able to recognize once again the art and know-how of the small artisan cheese industry in Teruel "Sierra de Albarracín", making them worthy of a gold medal, three silver and four bronze medals: the most awarded cheeses in our region.
To date, there were already 5 varieties of our cheeses that had obtained the highest recognition of the contest, a gold medal or super gold. These were the semi-cured raw milk "Gold Label", "Blue Label", "Wine Cheese", "Green Label" and cured pasteurized milk "Silver Label". After this last edition we must add the "La Cava de Mía" soft cheese, the latest of the novelties from this Spanish cheese factory that came onto the market just over a year ago. With all this, the Albarracín cheese factory has won 36 World Cheese Awards medals to this day.
In summary, the World Cheese Awards 2017-2018 have been distributed as follows:
Buy these award-winning cheeses in our online store!
This international event coincided with the Aragon Food Awards, organized by the Government of Aragon, where "Sierra de Albarracín" cheeses have been called to receive the Award in Agroalimentary Crafts. The jury of these awards justifies this recognition in "having maintained a high level of quality, increasing its range of products while their penetration in the market and prestige". Without a doubt, these are days of celebration for this Spanish Cheese factory!
The cheeses from Albarracín were protagonists in the radio program "Degustar España" of Radio 5 (RNE). Alberto Asensio, Sierra de Albarracín Manager, was interviewed live by the journalist Paloma Zuriaga who brought our gourmet cheeses to all her listeners and foodies.
You can listen the interview here (in spanish):
You can also read the transcript of the interview below:
Alberto, all the Sierra de Albarracin's cheeses are from sheep's milk...
Yes, indeed, because it's the livestock itself that dominates the origin of milk. And since we have sheeps, our cheeses has to be and must be from sheep's milk.
And all controlled by you.
The principle of everything is in that raw material. Our own livestock, with almost 2,000 sheeps and a really intensive production, allows us to have a stable level of sheep's milk troughout the year to transform it into our precious cheeses, both raw milk and pasteurized milk.
Enough raw material in a small company that is already ten years old.
Yes, in 2016 we celebrated our 10th anniversary. We are delighted to remember how we started with the sheeps and cheeses. With a constant and conscientious work by the team, young people as you can imagine, because the company was born with the idea of creating and forming people committed to a project. We are getting that first phase for the moment.
For now, you have achieved many awards because the Sierra de Albarracin cheeses are highly prized. Not only in Aragon, but in the World Cheese Awards from where you came back with a lot of medals.
As you say, the World Cheese Awards are the international competition par excellence and the reference for the whole sector and well, this year was celebrated after a long time in England, moved to San Sebastian where we had the fortune and privilege to attend personally in this edition of 2016. It was a pleasure. Imagine being surrounded by three thousand and so aspirants in all three types of sheep's milk and goat's milk. And since 2010, when we started to win the first gold medals, we came back from this edition with 13 new awards: a Super Gold, a Gold, four Plates, seven Bronzes ... In total there are already 28 medals in the last five years, which place us as the most distinguished Spanish cheesemaker in this contest. Which makes us feel frankly proud.
Of course. We have many cheeses to choose: Silver label, Blue label, Green label, Black label... I do not know where to start but maybe about the Silver Label, one of the most awarded, right?
Precisely the Silver Label, in this last edition of the World Cheese Awards, was the one that received that Super Gold medal, an award for the 55 best cheeses in the world: one for each table of jurors, composed of 7 or 8 members each, who choose the best cheese from each table. We had the chance to once again a Super Gold medal, because in 2012 we already obtained it with the Blue Label cheese. In 2016 we bet for a matured cheese, at least 9 months, with sheep's milk like mentioned, without forgetting the rest. In short, a cheese is a question of raw material and - second - time of maturation.
How can we buy these cheeses?
The distribution is relatively limited. We are not a big company and, therefore, we have a reduced production and this prevents us to work in large areas or large commercial areas. We don't do it through distributors, but through direct sales to the traditional delicatessen or the specialized shop. The big cities of this country make the difference in this type of consumption, because there is a select market of products that is demanded by people of average and high economic capacity, who look for differentiated products, exclusive and of the highest quality. At a fair price too, logically, but the big cities are our market and that gourmet shops in most cases are our customer.
Cheeses Sierra de Albarracin becomes the great winner of the World Cheese Awards 2016 at the International Cheese Festival, which in its 29th edition was held in San Sebastian for the first time.
With 13 awards we can boast of being the most awarded dairy in Spain in 2016-17. It is an amazing success in the prestigious "Oscar" awards about cheeses, the most important international event in the cheese sector, involving more than 3,000 cheeses from 35 countries of the five continents.
A total of 9 cheeses from Albarracín have achieved at least one of these recognized international awards adding to our list of awards 1 Super Gold, 1 Gold, 4 Silver and 7 Bronze.
Silver Label cheese: special jury award
Our aged sheep cheese, in addition to a silver medal,has won the Super Gold award, that is, it becomes one of the 66 best cheeses in the world chosen by the jury, a huge recognition for having competed against almost 3,100 Cheeses from all over the world.
Cheeses from La Cava de Mía: dream debut with 2 silver and 2 bronze medals
With barely a few months in the market, the gourmet cheese La Cava de Mía continues to accumulate awards. The newly elected Best Cheese of Autumn has seen how its two varieties win a total of 4 World Cheese Awards. A magnificent debut in these awards.
Our mature sheep cheese or "Red Label" already knew what it's to get a bronze medal at the World Cheese Awards. This year this cheese made exclusively from fresh pasteurized sheep's milk has been awarded with a double bronze medal.
Again, our sheep cheese in red wine won a World Cheese Award. In this edition, a bronze medal was added to the gold one already obtained in a previous occasion.
For the second consecutive year, our cured cheese made from raw sheep's milk gets an award in this international contest. Our Black Label cheese won two bronzes in 2015, and this year has got a new bronze medal.
We could not miss the International Cheese Festival. Alberto Asensio, manager of Quesos Sierra de Albarracin, our cheese master Ximo Alpuente, Andres Hernández, Liewe Schwerzel and Sara Narro.
We want to thank you for the great support and congratulations received since the announcement of this great news. It means so much to us. With 10 years of history, Cheeses Sierra de Albarracín already has won 28 World Cheese Awards and, consequently, a national and international recognition that keeps increasing. Thank you for sharing our passion for artisan cheese!
Albarracin cheese factory is celebrating, once again, an international award. This time, hard cheese from Albarracín has been awarded Silver medal in the World Cheese Awards 2013.
More than 3.000 cheeses from 34 countries participated in the last edition of World Cheese Awards, in different categories, with different types of milk, judged by 250 experts from all over the world.
The awarded cheese from Albarracin is made with a mould used in different cheese factories all over Teruel region, however, each one has its own recipe. In this case, our cheese is made with raw sheep milk.
It is an honour for us to be rewarded by this prestigious event year after year. We are also proud of being able to offer our clients the best quality in all our products.
Thanks for being there and sharing our happines.
We are looking forward to welcome you in Albarracin and in our website.
This recipe with cheese is a great choice for a second course. The type of zucchini used (round) is not very common, but you can also do this recipe with a current long zucchini, as long as you are careful, of course. ;)
This recipe is easy and quick, with not so many ingredients; you just have to make sure that the quality of these is good enough in order to improve the flavour of the dish.
Wash the zucchini, cut the upper side and then with a spoon empty the zucchini. If it´s not rounded, cut the pieces not longer than 2.5 in. and leave as bottom around 0.2 or 0.3 in. of zucchini.
Pour some water with salt in a pot and then boil the zucchini, upper side included. Once it´s well cooked, strain and let cool down for a while.
This
last March (19th – 22nd) the important livestock international fair at the FIMA location took place in Zaragoza.
The FIGAN (FIma GANadera, ganadería means
livestock) collected for the 11th time the newest technological innovations in
the livestock-farming sector. The
farmers could find the most modern solutions, technical and commercial, to
empower the development of their daily activities.
Based
on past successful experiences and also because of the ideal logistic
emplacement of Zaragoza, there were many farmers gathered there to learn and
share knowledge. Among them we were there, the cheese factory Sierra de
Albarracín, together with piensos
SOL, the most important company in the region that sells high quality
fodder for sheeps.
More
tan 60,000 people visited the 836 different companies that took place this year
at the fair, spread in more than 820,000ft².
This
way, FIGAN consolidates its
international fame and gets to renew its role as main fair in the world about
livestock.
The
reason why a little representation of our company travelled with piensos SOL is simple; this company was
the origin of what our cheese factory Sierrade Alabarracín means. The cheese factory project started first with the
fodder company.
We´ve
always said that we take very much care of our sheeps and their nutrition,
which we watch very close since we were, first of all, in charge of piensos SOL, then we grew our own
sheeps and at the end we became what we are now, a cheese factory that produces some of the most awarded cheeses in
Spain.
We
are still part of the fodder company and that´s why we couldn´t say no to
accompany its team in such important fair for the livestock-farming sector as it is FIGANin Zaragoza.
It
was a great experience with which we got the chance to learn about the newest
innovations in our sector. We paid attention to everything but we can´t say
that our facilities are old-fashioned at all.
Best
regards to those present at this years fair. To all the people who couldn’t come,
we just say that we´ll be waiting for you the next year´s edition.
Until
then and as usual, you can find us on our website
and also on the online store. Cheese delivered at home!
For the first time in history a cheese from Aragon, Spain has been selected as one of the TOP 16 Best Cheeses in the World. That happened in the annual and international contest celebrated in Birmingham (UK) the last November 28th.
More tan 3000 cheeses from 33 different countries have come to this
last edition of 2012.
Joaquin Alpuente and Alberto Asensio pose with the winner cheeses.
One more year, we come back home with more prizes and recognitions to
our job. It makes us really happy to know that our daily effort is reflected on
the quality of what we produce, which is appreciated by the best cheese experts
in the world.
This way we want to let all the people know that any time they tasted or bought one of our cheeses, they were bringing the best quality to their
homes. This fact fulfil us with joy and we can´t do another thing other than
celebrating and sharing our happiness with you.
The kinds of cheese awarded this year were:
One SuperGold medal for the soft Blue Label Cheese. It was in the TOP 16 previously mentioned.
We present here the sign of the Super Golds Top 16 that´s on the
website of the WORLD CHEESE AWARDS.
Cheeses Sierra de Albarracín keeps on celebrating awards, but what´s
most important, we celebrate a constant increasing of the sales since 2 years
ago, when we won the first gold medal in the WCA 2010.
Twelve hardworking people make
this dream possible in spite of the Spanish crisis and we grow together
with our clients needs.
Our sales forecast for 2013 tells us that we will reach our break even
point. That is a production of 70.000 Kilos (155.000 lb) from which a 20% goes
to foreign markets: United Kingdom,
Japan, Holland, etc.
Thank you very much for being there and specially for sharing
our happiness.
We are waiting for you in Albarracín
and also in our website.
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