Stamford-based artisan cheese shop Rennet & Rind took the top spot in the Affineur of the Year competition, which took place on Tuesday 3rd June. 

The competition, which is organised by the Academy of Cheese, brought together cheese fans and professionals to celebrate the magic of affinage. 

Affinage is the art of maturing and refining cheese to create or bring out unique and complex flavours and textures through the careful control of conditions, temperature and humidity.

For example, in the category won by Rennet & Rind, the entrants had to mature and refine a truckle of cheddar from Quicke's in Devon. Rennet & Rind used innovative techniques including an aggressive aging strategy and maturing the clothbound cheddar at a high temperature and humidity, in order to create their winning cheese, Dillon.

Techniques used by other entrees included washing the cheese in cider, coating in petals and adding layers of flavoured paste. 

The other categories include maturing a a 4kg Gorwydd Caerphilly from Trethowan Brothers, an 8kg Blue Shropshire from Cropwell Bishop, five 1kg wheels of Baron Bigod from Fen Farm Dairy, and 15 180g rounds of Solstice from White Lake Cheese.

Judged by an expert panel, all cheese entered into the competition are tasted and rated by experts before the public are allowed to taste every entry and vote for their favourite for the People's Choice Awards. 

This competition gives affineur's a unique challenge, with a different base cheese in each category being taken away and aged and matured using various techniques to create complex and intense flavours. 

Perry James Wakeman, Chief of Cheese at 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!"