Tiroler Felsenkeller Kuse (Tyrol rock cellar cheese), a natural Alpine pasture slicing product from the Austrian dairy Tirol Milch, has been crowned “Cheese Emperor” in its class at the annual international cheese championships in Vienna.

This is the highest award that a cheese can win in Austria. The international jury at the Vienna championships chose the rock cellar cheese because of its unique taste and texture and all-round quality, according to Tirol Milch managing director Andreas Geisler. This cheese is made only with milk from cows fed a basic diet of fresh grass and hay with no silage or bought-in concentrates. The resultant cheese is then matured at constant temperature and air moisture in one of two specially excavated mountainside rock cellars for a minimum six months. “Rock cellar maturing is by no means new,” explains Andreas Geisler. “In the past it was quite common in fact and we have re-established the tradition with our own cellars and special mountain cheese.”