The World Cheese Awards are heralded as the "largest and most cosmopolitan cheese awards on the planet," and California's cow's milk cheesemakers were honored with 15 awards at the 2009 World Cheese Awards hosted October 1-3 in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria (Canary Islands).

This prestigious international cheesemaking competition brings together 150 judges from 24 countries, including Mexico, South Africa, Japan and Australia. Over 2,440 entries were carefully sampled in a multitude of categories in order to select the winners and top finalists.

California cheesemakers clearly demonstrated the quality and heritage of California dairy as seven California cheesemakers were awarded a total of 15 awards; including two gold, three silver, and 11 bronze awards. The 2009 competition was a truly remarkable success and an impressive improvement over last year's achievement of 10 awards.

The winning California cow's milk cheesemakers included: Marin French Cheese Company (Petaluma, CA); Joseph Gallo Farms (Atwater, CA); Belfiore Cheese Co. (Berkeley, CA); Bellwether Farms (Petaluma, CA); Fiscalini Cheese Company (Modesto, CA); Cantaré Foods Inc. (San Diego, CA); Bravo Farms Handmade Cheese (Traver, CA).

Overall, 37 U.S. artisan cheesemakers were awarded a record 79 medals at this year's World Cheese Awards. This was the best showing for U.S. cheesemakers in the history of the World Cheese Awards competition.