How does a 90-pound wheel of Parmigiano Reggiano crafted in Italy make its way to a premier cheese tasting event in Monroe, Wisconsin? Here’s the story of how this wheel — dubbed the king of Italian cheese — and more than one hundred other varieties of cheese from around the world, will be showcased at a tasting event in Monroe on May 9.
Back in February, more than 3000 boxes arrived at a warehouse in Little Chute, Wisconsin. Packed inside were entries destined for judging at the 2024 World Championship Cheese Contest, an event presented by the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association (WCMA) since 1957. As volunteers opened boxes from eleven countries (including Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Japan, Croatia and the Netherlands), plus seventeen states here in the US, they worked under the guidance of WCMA and the publication Cheese Reporter News to compile a “catalog” that listed all the entries. Every entry was assigned a number and put into the appropriate class for judging.
Cheesemakers, butter makers, and yogurt makers from around the globe crossed their fingers in March, with hopes that the esteemed panel of judges gathered in Madison, would like what they saw, smelled, and tasted. At the close of the contest, a wheel from Switzerland was declared champion. But the cheese wasn’t done traveling. The next stop was the warehouse at Klondike Cheese in Monroe.
In April, the top three winners in each of the contest classes rolled over to Milwaukee to be displayed at the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association Convention. There’s some lag time built into the schedule between the contest and the convention, so winning makers from other countries can make travel arrangements to the United States. The convention’s auction of first-place contest winners yielded $423,000, with proceeds going to WCMA scholarships for youth entering the ag and dairy fields.
Winning auction bidders took their cheese home, but what happened to the rest of the cheese? It was on the move again, eventually landing at Building No. 5 at Maple Leaf Cheesemakers in Monroe. That’s where the local prep work began for the tasting event.
The team at Maple Leaf sorted through pallets, matching up numbers on the cheese with numbers in the contest catalog. Under the direction of Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker Jeff Wideman, who served as a board member with the WCMA for many years, some blocks and wheels were designated to be cut into wedges or smaller blocks for display, with remaining pieces cubed for sampling. Other cheese was set aside to be prepped for presentation the day of the event — envision a half-wheel of Blue cheese on a serving board, with small crumbles piled next to it for sampling.
The wheel of Parmigiano Reggiano that made the trip from Italy will likely have a place of honor at the tasting event. It placed third in its class, but Wideman notes that the points really don’t matter much when the judging scores separating first, second and third place entries can often be less than a tenth of a percentage point difference.
“I dare anybody to tell me the difference between first and third place,” says Wideman, who has served as a judge at cheese competitions in other countries.
Wideman has visited factories and aging cellars in the Po Valley region of Italy, where the wheel originated from. To be called Parmigiano Reggiano requires a strict set of rules from the farm to the factory. The brand is designated DOP, and you’ll see those letters imprinted right on the cheese. DOP is the Italian version of Protected Designation of Origin, and the Italians are fiercely protective of this status.
“If you’re making cheese in that general region, but maybe you’re at a higher altitude than the exact area for the DOP, your cheese won’t qualify as Parmigiano Reggiano. The designation starts with the salty soil, and forage that is dried and never fermented,” says Wideman.
In addition to rules about what the cows munch on, the exclusive DOP certification also dictates the production process. Wheels are made in copper cauldrons, immersed in salt brine for exactly 20 days, and aged from 12 to 72 months.
Along with the Parmigiano Reggiano, the team at Maple Leaf set aside some other notable cheeses. There’s Gruyere and a 200-pound wheel of Emmentaler from Switzerland, Stilton from England, Gouda from Holland, and some amazing sheep’s milk cheese from Spain.
If you’d like to taste these exclusive cheeses, along more than 130 varieties from around the world, you’ll need a ticket for what has been likened to a giant charcuterie board that will fill an entire room at Ludlow Mansion in Monroe on May 9, from 4-8 p.m. A limited number of tickets are available for $40 per person, and can be purchased at locations in Monroe including Suisse Haus and Nett’s Sports Bar.
The Cheese Tasting & Steak Dinner is a fundraiser by the Monsignor Thomas F. Campion Charitable Foundation. The event wouldn’t be possible without support by the WCMA and Foreign Type Cheese Makers Association, along with volunteers who assisted as the cheese traveled around the state.
“This is a world class cheese tasting,” says Wideman. “There’s no place else in the world where you can go to an event like this one being held right here in Monroe.”
— Noreen Rueckert is the director for Green County Tourism, director for Green County Cheese Days, and committee co-chair for Concerts on the Square with Main Street. She can be reached at
noreen@tds.net.
