In all Canadians won 20 awards.
Best in Show was Raclette Compton au Poivre by Fromagerie la Station. It is an on-farm organic 60-cow operation.
Overall second place went to le Cousin by Fromagerie Médard which has a herd of Brown Swiss to make Swiss cheeses. Both are in Quebec.
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Gunn's Hill Artisan Cheese at Woodstock won two awards. Their Dark Side of the Moo won first place for flavour-added cheeses and their 5 Brothers cheese won second place in washed rind cheeses.
Co-owner Shep Ysslestein said that first win last year coincided with renewed interest in artisanal foods.
Adam van Bergeijk, owner of Mountainoak Cheese near New Hamburg, started making cheese on his dairy farm in Holland in 1981.
His family moved to their current farm in 1996 after Dutch agricultural policy changes and started making cheeses on their farm 12 years ago.
"We had to tweak a little bit about our recipe, but not much," said van Bergeijk. "It turned out very well. It's the food the cows are getting, and also the environment that can be an issue as well."
A year later, they won Best Gouda at the Canadian Cheese Awards. They've since won 20 more Canadian and international awards, including at the International Cheese Awards and the World Cheese Awards.
Mountainoak's 240-head dairy farm and cheese factory sits on 77 hectares and they rent another 69 including some that is being expropriated in Wilmot Township’s controversial land assembly for industrial development.
Each cow produces about 40 litres of milk daily, about 40 per cent is used for their cheese making. Each week, they make 160 wheels, or 1,600 kilograms of cheese.
"I love making the cheese. It's a natural product here, what we make it's an old recipe. But I think it's a nice honest product that I like to present to the people. There are no gimmicks." said van Bergeijk.
Guelph's Heather Thelwell of Guelph, a certified cheese maker, educator, and judge for cheese competitions said "Mountainoak has been growing the grain, doing a breeding program for their cows … the quality of the milk is amazing."
