Rennet & Rind wins Affineur of the Year, as competition transforms landscape of British cheese

Rennet & Rind in Cambridgeshire was crowned Affineur of the Year 2025 on Tuesday 3 June, having impressed the judges with its maturation and refinement of a truckle of cheddar from Quicke’s in Devon. Now in its fourth year, the competition has sparked a revolution in British cheese aging - reshaping perceptions of this often underappreciated artisan craft, pushing the boundaries of what can be achieved through affinage, and inspiring the creation of many new cheeses across the UK.

Led by Chief of Cheese, Perry James Wakeman, Rennet & Rind has now taken the top prize at three out of four editions of Affineur of the Year, up against some of the most respected cheesemakers and cheesemongers in the country. For this year’s winning cheese, named Dillon, Perry employed an aggressive aging strategy to achieve a bold flavour profile, maturing the clothbound cheddar at a high temperature and high humidity, before removing the cloth after three weeks. At this stage, he used a spiked rolling device to help bring the complex and intense tasting notes usually found near the rind, deep into the cheese.

Held at the iconic St Mary’s Marylebone, Affineur of the Year, which is organised by the Academy of Cheese, brought cheese professionals and cheese lovers together for a celebration of the magic, wizardry and science behind affinage. While the expert panel rigorously assessed all 43 entries behind closed doors, ticket holders were able to meet the affineurs and taste every single entry in the main arena, before casting their votes in the People’s Choice Award.

This year, the competition expanded again to include five categories, giving affineurs the opportunity to age and refine an 8kg truckle of Cheddar from Quicke’s, a 4kg Gorwydd Caerphilly from Trethowan Brothers, an 8kg Blue Shropshire from Cropwell Bishop, five 1kg wheels of Baron Bigod from Fen Farm Dairy, and 15 180g rounds of Solstice from White Lake Cheese.

Entrants employed a wide range of innovative affinage techniques, combining art and science in equal measure. These included washing in cider, coating in petals and adding layers of flavoured paste, while carefully controlling temperature and humidity levels to transform the original cheeses into something altogether new and exciting.

Commenting on the diversity of this year’s entries, judge Laurent Mons of the Mons Formation in France, one of the world’s most respected affineurs, said:

“Ageing is a process that never ends. Every minute, every hour, every day. There is always something new to learn.”

While Rennet & Rind won the competition with their Hard cheese entry, four other categories were won by The Fine Cheese Co. in Bath, with Nick Bayne and Martin Knapp collecting trophies for Best Washed Rind Cheese, Best Soft Cheese, Best Crumbly Cheese, and the People’s Choice award for their cheddar entry. The Best Blue Cheese prize went to Roger Longman at White Lake Cheese in Somerset.

Cheese writer, teacher and head judge, Patrick McGuigan, commented:

“Every year the standard is getting higher and higher, showing how affinage is rapidly becoming better understood and delivered by cheesemakers, cheesemongers and specialist affineurs. There’s so many variables in affinage, around time, humidity, temperature, airflow and the cheese you start with, and you need to keep tweaking everything all along the way, so it’s a really complicated skill to master. As for Perry winning again, the guy clearly knows what he’s doing – he’s a really really talented affineur. It means everything to him, and you can see that from just how successful he’s been – improving year on year.”

Reflecting on his latest win, Perry James Wakeman of Rennet & Rind added:

“When you sell cheese to your customers, a lot of the time you don’t get a lot of feedback - but here, in one room, you have the best cheese people in the world looking at your cheese, and judging it. And it’s so nice to go down with all the other competitors, standing side-by-side, talking about what they did, how they did it, what they didn’t like and what they did like. Everyone is sharing and the industry is growing. Well done to the Academy of Cheese for providing this platform, and thanks to Mark and my team. Here’s one for Cambridge and Stamford!”

Full details on this year’s competition can be found at academyofcheese.org/affineur-of-the-year.