At the annual American Cheese Society Judging and Competition held this month in Richmond, Va., the award for “Best of Show” went to Stockinghall by Murray’s Cheese, a cow’s milk clothbound Cheddar — made for Murray’s by Cornell University and Old Chatham Creamery in Chatham, N.Y., and aged in Murray’s caves. In second place was Professor’s Brie, made for Wegmans Food Markets from a mix of cow’s and sheep’s milk, also by Old Chatham and ripened in Wegmans caves. The third place winner was Shooting Star Creamery’s Aries, a semifirm, herbaceous sheep’s milk Alpine-style cheese made by Avery Jones, the 15-year-old daughter of Reggie Jones, an owner of Central Coast Creamery in Paso Robles, Calif. The top two winning cheeses, from a field of 1,742 entries, are notable for having been aged by retailers. The cheese from Wegmans, a small, mild, satiny square, is sold in the company’s stores ($9.99 for a 4.32-ounce square), and the pale, firm, herbal Shooting Star cheese is available on a limited basis only at Sigona’s Farmers Market in Palo Alto, Calif. But Murray’s rich, slightly crumbly Stockinghall is sold online, $30 a pound.
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