A TRADITIONAL cream from Gippsland and a hand-made cheese from Tasmania came up trumps at Australia's leading dairy produce awards last week.

Heidi Farm Gruyere, a one-year-old semi-hard cheese made in Tasmania, won grand champion cheese at the Australian Grand Dairy Awards at a gala ceremony in Melbourne.

Earlier, the product was named champion semi-hard and eye cheese.

It's not the first time the highest cheese award has headed back to Heidi Farm but manager Darren Pease said it is the first time they have won for the gruyere.

Despite being owned by dairy giant National Foods, Heidi Farm has been able to keep production small and quality high.

"It is hand-made," Mr Pease said.

"Every cheese gets hands-on attention, it doesn't flow through in masses. We look at every cheese and give it what it needs."

Between two and four people work on each cheese before it is matured for a year.

Mr Pease believes the gruyere's depth of flavour comes from a year spent in the maturing room, which he says is "enough time to develop a strong intense flavour".

Two dairy farmers supply the factory in Tasmania's north which processes 2700 litres of milk each day.

Traditional and natural qualities were also the strong points of fellow grand champion dairy product Bead Foods' Gippsland Dairy Pure Double Cream.

Bead Foods managing director David Mann said the cream joined a King Island cream as the only double creams on the market that did not contain any thickeners.

The cream last featured in the 2007 awards when it won its category.

Winning "the ultimate" grand champion stamp means a lot to the Australian-owned company, Mr Mann said.

"It is recognition from all your peers that your product is a really good quality product," he said.

It was the 10th of the awards for Dairy Australia.

Other winners included:

  • Champion flavoured milk: Dare Iced Coffee Double Expresso.
  • Champion butter or butter blend: Western Star Original Butter, Fonterra Brands.
  • Champion icecream: Connoisseur Caramel Honey Macadamia, Fonterra Brands.
  • Champion dairy gelato: Banana Gelato, Tutto Bene.
  • Champion washed rind cheese: Milawa King River Gold.
  • Champion goat's or sheep's milk cheese: Red Hill Mountain Goat Blue, Red Hill Cheese.
  • Champion hard cheese: Floridia Percorino, Floridia Cheese.
  • Champion fresh unripened cheese: Floridia Ricotta, Floridia Cheese.
  • Champion flavoured yoghurt: Maleny Gourmet Yoghurt-Passionfruit, Maleny Cheese.
  • Champion natural yoghurt: Mundella Foods, Western Australia.
  • Champion milk: Clarence Gardens, Dairy Farmers, South Australia.
  • Champion white mould cheese: Tasmanian Heritage Signature Camembert, National Foods.
  • Champion blue cheese: King Island Dairy Endeavour Blue, National Foods.
  • Champion cheddar-style cheese: Ashgrove Double Gloucester, Ashgrove Cheese.
  • Champion dairy dessert: Tant Pour Tant Chocolate Raspberry Supreme.
  • Education excellence award - manufacturing: Malcolm Toohey, Fonterra, Darnum.
  • Innovation in dairy manufacturing: David Murray, Murray Goulburn, Leongatha.
  • 2009 cheesemaker scholarships: Michael Roache, Geoff Nicholson and Suzanne Harnett.