It has come back from the Cuisine New Zealand Champions of Cheese competition with two awards, plus seven gold, 10 silver and 17 bronze medals.
"It's the best results we have ever had," general manager Simon Berry said in Oamaru yesterday after returning from the awards ceremony on Tuesday in Auckland.
Star of the company's 24 varieties of cow, sheep and goats' milk cheeses was its Vintage Blue, the cheese winning the Ecolab Champion Blue Cheese Award and then two golds in the export and original categories.
Mr Berry put the company's success down to the skills of its four cheese-makers under the direction of head cheese-maker Chris Moran.
"It's very difficult to get even a bronze medal, let alone the number of silvers and golds," Mr Berry said.
The second award the company received was the New Zealand Specialist Cheese Association Cheese Packaging Award for its two-cheese platter. Three gold medals were also awarded for packaging, including Whitestone's cheese tin - a tribute to the "really focused" teams in the packaging departments, where all cheeses are packed by hand.
This year, there were 450 cheeses entered in 20 different categories, the highest number in the eight years of the competition. Some were entered in multiple categories.
The champion of champions award went to a blue cheese, Kapiti Kikorangi from Fonterra Brands NZ, while the champion artisan cheese was won by the Mercer 50/50 Gouda from Mercer Cheese.
The champion cheese-maker was Miel Meyer from Meyer Gouda Cheese.
