Not since 1988 had an American-made cheese managed to take the title in the World Championship Cheese Contest conducted every year in Wisconsin. That dry spell dramatically ended when a Wisconsin cheese officially took the title, and that dynamic trophy you see at the top of this story. The winner was Emmi Roth USA.
Emmi Roth USA's Wisconsin-madd Grand Cru Surchoix was the first U.S. cheese to win a World Championship Cheese Contest in 28 years. America's Dairyland was finally back on top. The contest proved to be a rewarding one for local cheesemaker Francois Capt and his team at Benton Harbor's Old Europe Cheese Company as well.
Old Europe's Natural Smoked Gouda grabbed the Gold Medal and their Camembert Traditonnel swept the Silver Medal in the 2016 World Championships held in Madison, Wisconsin earlier this month. The large cheese manufacturing plant on Empire Avenue in Benton Charter Township has a burgeoning trophy case from similar competitions over the years. Its very first cheese 28 years ago won the U.S. Championship Cheese Contest.
Last year at this same competition, Old Europe garnered one Gold Medal, a Silver and Bronze and two fourth place finishes from among more than 2,600 entries from 22 nations. This year's competition was a record-breaker with 2,955 entries from 23 nations, 31 U.S. states and Puerto Rico.
Old Europe Cheese of Benton Harbor was launched in 1987 and is an important cog in the state of Michigan's nearly $15-billion dairy industry, helping to generate more than 40,000 direct and indirect jobs to the state's agricultural industry.
The company's Triple-Cream Brie earned Old Europe the 2013 Grand Championship Award at the Michigan Dairy Expo at Michigan State University. The growing company also crafts Camembert, Gouda, Edam, Fontina, American Morbier and other specialty cheeses every day from their state of the art facilities which are continually upgraded for first-class performance in our own home town.
Old Europe Cheese takes delivery on more than 35,000 gallons of milk every day on Empire and produces nearly 7-million pounds of cheese a year under the Reny Picot brand name.
Francois Capt is a fourth-generation cheese maker who continues to work diligently to grow the brand and widen production and distribution. He has a staff of more than 120 people crafting the company's magic every day. In 2012 the company doubled the capacity of its cooler in order to accommodate larger volumes during peak production periods. Two years ago they added on to the plant's curing room to allow placement of another 10,000 pounds of brie every day.
