White Lake Cheese Emerges Victorious at the 2026 Artisan Cheese Awards

Somerset-based White Lake Cheese had a remarkable showing at the 2026 Artisan Cheese Awards, held on May 23 at St Mary’s Church in Melton Mowbray. The event saw participation from many leading cheesemakers from the UK and Ireland, with a record-breaking 643 entries judged by a panel of 80 experts on May 14.

White Lake Cheese emerged as one of the most successful participants of the competition, earning two category winner trophies among other distinctions. The company’s founder, Roger Longman, received the Best Affinage Cheese trophy for their Sheep Rustler, a semi-hard sheep’s milk cheese aged at Bagborough Farm in Pylle for three months. Additionally, they were awarded the Best Sheep Cheese trophy for Pavé Cobble, an ash-coated cheese made with unpasteurised ewe’s milk.

Besides these top honors, White Lake Cheese also collected three category runner-up prizes and 27 other awards. Their Goat Curd was recognized in the Fresh class, Rachel in the Semi-Soft class, and Sheep Rustler in the Sheep class. In total, White Lake secured nine Gold awards for various cheeses, including Driftwood, English Pecorino, Eve, Pavé Cobble, Rachel, Sheep Rustler, Tor, and Tuppence.

The company also won 12 Silver and six Bronze awards, with accolades distributed across 18 different cheeses, including several new offerings. This performance underscored White Lake Cheese’s reputation as a leading producer within the artisanal cheese industry in the UK and Ireland.

Roger Longman expressed his delight at the results, stating, “The Artisan Cheese Awards is hugely competitive, so we’re super happy to be going home from Melton Mowbray with this incredible haul of trophies and prizes. It’s always an honor to stand alongside the UK and Ireland’s top cheesemakers, and even better fun to come out on top. What a fantastic weekend for everyone at White Lake. It’s important to celebrate, but our main focus is always striving to do better and better.”