The wine flowed, the food was great and the company was awesome! 300 odd turophiles, that’s cheese lovers to you and me, packed the big room at the Langham Hotel in Auckland for Cuisine NZ’s Champions of Cheese Awards last night.

Forget the Boss, this is rock’n’roll to me.

Congratulations to all the winners. You can find them at the NZ Specialist Cheese Association site. http://www.nzsca.org.nz/cheese-awards/.

I was honoured to share a table with #Curdnerd, cheese-guy extraordinaire at Sabatos (centre below), Jake and his Dad, Bob from Mahoe Cheese. Also at our table was Jacqui from Sabatos, the lovely Stoneleigh ladies, and my erstwhile cheese buddy Kate.

We had a blast, cheese people really are the best people so I was chuffed when my table companions Jake and Bob won the Cuisine Champion Artisan Cheese Award for their Very Old Edam Mahoe Farmhouse Cheese. I kid you not this stuff is crack for a cheese head like me – sweet caramel delicous. Keep an eye out for it.

This morning I headed over to The Dairy in Ponsonby to check out some of the winners and brought home some Award winning Mercer Pecorino, Flat White from Crescent Dairy Goats, and St Benedict the Black Whangaripo Buffalo Cheese Company. Mmm happy belly.

If you’re in Wellington on Tuesday 18 March, book now for my Cheese and Wine tasting at Elements Cafe with Wellington Foodies. Come on over and join us, we’ll be tasting a selection of winning cheeses, it’ll be great.

Book now for “Taste the Winners of the NZ Cheese Awards 2014 and Slurp a few Glasses of Vino, 7pm 18 March 2014.

The beautiful Kate Hardwick (L) and me at the Langham last night.

Photos- Lucy Hoffman copyright 2014