The wins just keep coming for Gourmino. This Swiss marketing co-op has 13 cheesemaker members who seem to have a lock on the top prize at major international competitions. Last week, a Gourmino Gruyère prevailed at the World Cheese Awards in Wales, besting 4,433 entries. Earlier this year, a Gourmino Gruyère from cheesemaker Michael Spycher was named World Champion Cheese —for the third time. I can’t overstate how remarkable that is.

What is going on in those Gourmino aging caves to produce so many superstar cheeses?

Gourmino doesn’t make any cheese. Its members do, at their own small independent creameries. But the members jointly own aging caves where their young wheels are matured by experts.

You can read more about Gourmino in this Planet Cheese post. All Gourmino cheeses are made with raw milk. Ten of the members make Emmentaler AOP, three of them make Le Gruyère AOP and almost all of them make another cheese or two that is unique to them, like Ur-Eiche and Bleu de Combremont (pictured above).

Every wheel of Gruyère has to age at the creamery where it was made for a minimum of four months to qualify for AOP status. After that, if it’s deemed worthy of further aging, Gruyère from a Gourmino producer goes to the Gourmino caves dug into a mountain in the Bernese Alps. The affinage experts take it from there, brushing, turning and pampering the wheel until they determine that the quality is peaking. That’s the hard part and the risky part, says Joe Salonia, Gourmino’s U.S. sales rep. A Gruyère Surchoix (12 to 15 months old) fetches more than a younger wheel, and a Gruyère Réserve (15 to 20 months) is worth more yet. But not every wheel can go the distance, and guessing wrong is costly.

“We have to understand that arc of taste,” says Salonia. “The affineurs know if a wheel is getting better or if it’s declining.” In this video from the Gourmino cellar, you can watch an affineur put his finely honed sensory skills to work:

Cheesemaker Urs Leuenberger produced the Gruyère Surchoix that won this year’s World Cheese Awards. All his milk comes from farms less than a kilometer away and he makes only five or six wheels of Gruyère each day. Currently only two shops in the U.S. have Leuenberger’s Gruyère (The Cheese Shop of Des Moines and Darien Cheese & Fine Foods) although they are possibly sold out by now.

I haven’t tasted Leuenberger’s Gruyère but I have tasted Spycher’s (pictured above) multiple times. It is exceptionally silky and creamy, with an aroma of warm cream and toasted walnuts. The 2021 Gustave Lorentz Pinot Gris Réserve made a lovely companion.

“It’s going to take some time but there will be wheels trickling in,” says Salonia of Leuenberger’s Gruyère. In the meantime, look for his Jùscht, a younger mountain cheese which has more U.S. distribution.

Also keep your eyes out for other Gourmino cheeses. Ur-Eiche is splendid, with a potent roasted-onion fragance and intense, beefy flavor. I also adore Hornbacher, Schallenberger and Brebidoux. Bleu de Combremont was too pungent for me when I tried it recently, but it might have been overly mature. It won a Super Gold at the recent World Cheese Awards, a distinction afforded to roughly the top 2 percent. The only U.S. cheeses to achieve Super Gold status were Greensward, Hudson Flower and St. Malachi Reserve from the Farm at Doe Run.

Look here for retailers that tend to carry Gourmino cheeses.