MONROE — The top prize in this year’s 2023 U.S. Cheese Championship may have been awarded to a Connecticut company, but the cheesemaker himself is fresh from the cheese factories of southern Wisconsin.

Eric Schmid, 29, formerly of Monticello, won the top award last week for his Europa, an aged Gouda made by Arethusa Farm Dairy in Bantam, Connecticut. The award was presented to him via video link from the contest stage in Green Bay.

His father, Rusty Schmid said his son has only been in Connecticut a short time, having learned the cheesemaking trade from years spent working in cheese factories locally, including Monticello Cheese and Chula Vista in Browntown.

“He just kind of fell in love with cheesemaking,” said Rusty, who along with Eric’s mother, Teresa Schmid, is every bit the proud parent. “He surprised himself and he surprised his mom and dad more.”

With a score of 98.739 out of 100, Europa topped 2,249 entries from 197 dairy companies and cooperatives across 35 U.S. states to win the coveted top prize.

Wisconsin, meanwhile, took home 54 of the “Best of Class” finishes of the 113 total classes — the most of any other state. Cheesemakers in California followed behind the dairy state with nine wins, while Idaho finished third with eight. With 54 Best of Class finishes, Wisconsin earned the highest number of gold medals in the contest. The next winningest states didn’t even come close: Dairy manufacturers from California took home nine golds, and Idaho finished third in the ranking, with eight Best of Class awards.

A number of the state winners came from right here in Green and Lafayette County. Among those, in the Feta category, was Monroe’s Klondike Cheese Company which won best of class and first runner-up — with the award going to Kristi Wuthrich and Steve Webster for their Odyssey Feta entries. And the top prize and winner of the Flavored Havarti Cheese went to Tom Schultz of Klondike, for the Buholzer Brothers Dill Havarti.

“Overall, we felt we did really well in the competition,” said Dave Buholzer, of Buholzer Brothers and Monroe’s Klondike Cheese. “We’re just about as pleased as we could be.”

In the Latin American Style Melting Cheese category, the top winner was from Darlington’s Mexican Cheese Producers Sigma Darlington Plant, with its Queso Oaxaca. And in the Traditional Waxed Cheddar category, Roelli Cheese of Shullsburg won best of class for its Roelli Haus Select Cheddar.

“We are very proud of how well we did, but you are always surprised to find out,” said Chris Roelli, of Roelli Cheese. “You never expect to have two different cheeses in the top 20, 2 years in a row.”

Both Roelli and Buholzer said the awards are a big help in marketing their products to the world, which has come to expect the best from Green and Lafayette County cheesemakers.

“We know right where we are at with some of our peers,” said Roelli. “We are blessed to have some of the very best and most dedicated cheesemakers living here in our area. People really pay attention to this kind of thing, and we’re very proud of it.”

As for Schmid, his dad says his son won’t be in Connecticut for very long, as he has recently accepted a cheese industry job in management in Minnesota. 

“But they (Arethusa Farm Dairy) get to keep the award,” said Schmid, adding that “they also are thrilled to death about it.”