Stellar judging line up for 2014 Australian Grand Dairy Awards

Judges are convening for the 15th annual Australian Grand Dairy Awards at the Dairy Australia offices in Melbourne on 25 and 30 October 2013 to put 400 plus products through a rigorous and highly technical judging process to select Australia’s best cheese and best dairy product.

The 2014 Australian Grand Dairy Awards judging panel boasts an impressive line-up of 22 cheese and dairy experts from Australia plus international judge, Oriol Urgell, from Spain.

Only 20 products will emerge as champions in their respective class with the highest scoring cheese and the highest scoring dairy product then being awarded the ultimate 2014 Grand Champions - Australia’s most prestigious cheese and dairy accolades.

The judges have a tough job ahead, tasting and testing more than 140 different cheeses and 280 dairy products for flavour, aroma, body, texture, colour and appearance.

Cheese expert, Neil Willman, has been the chief judge for the Australian Grand Dairy Awards since they were created in 1999. With more than 30 years’ experience in the cheese and dairy industry, Neil is responsible for training many Australian and New Zealand cheesemakers, cheese judges and food media.

"We’ve assembled a great panel of highly experienced dairy professionals and qualified judges," said Neil.

"It’s never an easy task to determine the pick of the bunch from a pool of gold medal winners, but this year we have the highest ever number of entries so we’re definitely in for a challenge.”

The results of the 2014 Australian Grand Dairy Awards judging process will be announced in Melbourne on Tuesday 26 November, 2013.

The official 2014 Australian Grand Dairy Awards (AGDA) judges will be:

• Neil Willman: AGDA Chief Judge, cheese educator and director at New Zealand Cheese School
• Robyn Gray: Technical specialist at Symrise, qualified cheesemaker and industry judge
• Russell Smith: AGDA Deputy Chief Judge, cheesemaker and educator
• Scott Bolch: Technical specialist and Business Manager at Chr. Hansen New Zealand
• Gabriel Gaté: Chef, best-selling cook book author
• Petra Sugiarto: Technical specialist at Dupont and industry judge
• Oriol Urgell: International judge and cheese expert from Spain
• Sonia Cousins: Renowned fromager, cheese educator with Cheese the Day and industry judge
• Bill Tzimas: Cheesemonger, owner of Bill’s Farm at Queen Victoria Market and industry judge
• Garry Baker: Technical specialist, product manager at Dupont and industry judge
• Gina Graham: Cheese educator and food technologist with Adelaide’s TAFE SA, industry judge
• Don Sandman: Manager - Tasmanian Dairy Industry Authority and industry judge
• Mark Livermore: Cheese producer and industry judge
• Michael Demagistris: Chef – Sorrento Golf Club and ‘MasterChef The Professionals’ finalist
• Del Teesdale: Technical specialist
• Brenda Reilly: Industry judge and food safety consultant
• Lyndey Milan: Renowned food commentator, book author and TV presenter
• Geraldine Walker: Applications Leader - Dairy Innovation Australia Limited
• Craig Davis: PhD in food technology, cheese and dairy technical specialist
• Carlo Mason: Cheesemaker and National Business Manager Cultures and Enzymes – Chr. Hansen
• Andre Sandison: Pastry chef, educator, Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts Institute
• Associate Judge Mireille Guiliano: Best-selling international author – ‘French Women Don’t Get Fat’ and former President and CEO of Clicquot, Inc.

Source: Dairy Australia, 25 October 2013