Far North’s Mahoe Cheese wins big at Champions of Cheese Awards

Brothers Jake (left) and Jesse Rosevear in the maturing room at Mahoe Farmhouse Cheese in Oromāhoe, the Far North. The company won three gold medals, two silvers and a bronze at this year’s New Zealand Champions of Cheese Awards.

Oromāhoe in the Bay of Islands is almost 19,000km away from the Netherlands, but that doesn’t stop some of the country’s best Dutch-style cheese being made in the Far North.

Mahoe Farmhouse Cheese, on State Highway 10 at Oromāhoe, is run by Dutch descendants the Rosevears, who know a thing or three about what it takes to make great cheese.

That knowledge and expertise have again come to the fore, with Mahoe Farmhouse having huge success at this year’s New Zealand Champions of Cheese Awards, winning three gold medals, two silver medals and a bronze, continuing the unprecedented success they have had at the awards.

The company’s Mahoe Edam, Mahoe Mature Edam and Mahoe Very Old Edam all won gold medals, with the judges blown away by the quality of the three Dutch-style cheeses.

Mahoe Farmhouse’s Very Old Edam, one of its gold medal winners at this year’s Champions of Cheese Awards.

“Excellent cheese … Lovely smooth creamy texture. Well balanced; good salt, sweet and lovely clean flavours," they said of the Mahoe Edam.

The Mahoe Mature Edam was described as “an excellent mature cheese”, while they waxed lyrical about the Very Old Edam, describing it as: “Lovely crystal development, lovely eye development and rind formation. Super creamy. Beautiful fruity and sour flavour.”

Also, the Mahoe Blue and Mahoe Gouda won silver medals, while its Cumin Gouda won bronze.

Another Northland cheesemaker to taste success at the awards was Waipu’s Belle Chevre Creamery, which produces goat milk cheese.

Belle Chevre Creamery Marinated Goat Cheese won gold, with judges saying it had: “A lovely harmony of flavours in a beautiful potpourri of herbs and spices. Chilli present, but not overpowering. Flavours balance well. Cheese is smooth, unctuous and appropriately salted.”

Jennifer Rodrigue is owner of Waipu's Origin Northland and Belle Chevre Creamery, which won two gold medals at the New Zealand Champions of Cheese Awards.

The Belle Chevre Creamery Manaia Ma also won gold due to its: “Lovely-looking cheese. Great on a platter. Creative. Smooth texture, nicely balanced paste with ripened edges. Slight peppery notes from goat + ash. Nice clean goat flavour.”

This is the latest in a long line of successes for Mahoe , which has won numerous awards for its cheeses over the past 35 years or so.

The cheesemakers are Jake and Jesse Rosevear and their brother, Tim, looks after the herd that produces the milk for their famed products. The artisan cheesemakers have won swags of awards for many of their cheeses, which include gouda and edam, gouda infused with cumin, chives and garlic, and blue cheese.

Cheese wheels maturing at the multiple-award-winning Mahoe Cheese factory in the Bay of Islands.

But they’re best known for their mature edam and gouda-style range, created from recipes and techniques based on original Dutch methods they have refined and adapted.

Edam and gouda wheels are matured on site for three to well over 12 months.

How they came to focus on Dutch cheesemaking goes back to their parents, Anna and Bob, who started the family business from their dairy farm at the same site almost 40 years ago.

Jesse said the siblings were pleased to win more awards and that they had carried on their parents' traditions.

“Bob was probably the most proud of his little business out of everybody. He would puff out his chest with pride [at the numerous award wins]. They would be so proud we are continuing their legacy and Bob will be up there smiling down and puffing his chest out with pride.”

Jesse said the key to their success was down to the cows they had on their farm, which is run as a biological input farm where it’s all about the cow’s health and wellbeing and no sprays.

Tim runs the farm and Jesse said he did a great job of having happy, healthy, stress-free cows.

“It’s all about looking after the health of the cows properly and if you have happy and healthy cows, that’s the best place to start.

“And we always love to win awards for our cheeses so we’re pretty happy at the latest [success].”

Jesse said Jake had been making cheese for a long time and that experience and technical skills were huge in making the award-winning cheeses.

Almost 200 NZ-made cheeses are entitled to wear gold, silver and bronze medals to affirm their quality following the judging of the New Zealand Champions of Cheese Awards 2025.

Medals were bestowed upon 199 of the country’s finest cheeses after evaluation of over 240 locally produced cheeses. The awards, managed by the New Zealand Specialist Cheesemakers Association, highlighted exceptional quality and innovation in the local cheese industry.

Assessment was conducted at Hamilton’s Wintec in early March with master judge Jason Tarrant guiding 30 others, supported by 20 stewards, through an evaluation of 240 NZ-made cheeses.

The 199 medal count consists of 65 gold medals, 83 silver and 51 bronze medals.

Mahoe’s success follows another recent Far North foodie win.

Last week, Houhora company The Kutai Guy struck gold in the Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards for the second year in a row.

This year’s gold at the awards was for The Kutai Guy’s crowd-favourite Sweet Chilli Smoked Mussels, while the Garlic Butter and the newly released Natural Smoked Mussels both earned a silver, cementing the brand’s reputation for producing New Zealand’s finest kutai (mussels).