Rennet & Rind in Lincolnshire 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 Rennet & Rind’s Chief of Cheese, Perry James Wakeman, the Stamford-based cheese shop 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.
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.
Said Patrick McGuigan, Cheese writer, teacher and head judge: “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 are 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 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!” For more visit academyofcheese.org
Picture [L to R]: Laurent Mons of the Mons Formation, Affineur of the Year 2025 champion, Perry James Wakeman from Rennet & Rind, and Mary Quicke of Quicke’s.
