Cambray Cheese wins From the Dairy trophy at 2025 Produce Awards - Produce Awards

Aug 29, 2025

“When you spend your days talking to sheep, there’s no recognition, but to have nights like this... makes it all worthwhile."

Next time you put out a cheeseboard, spare a thought for the cheesemakers. The styles – and quality – of cheese that we consume in Australia vary wildly, but when it comes to true artisan cheese, there is much to be thankful for.

Cheesemaking is a craft that takes years to master, demanding science and art in equal measure. From the diet of the milking herd to the decisions made in the maturation room, each wheel or wedge is the result of years of training, hard work and dedication to quality.

Western Australia’s Cambray Cheese is the perfect example of hard-won cheesemaking excellence. This family-run cheese factory and dairy produces artisan sheep’s milk cheeses so superb, they were recently named winners of the From the Dairy award at the 2025 delicious. Harvey Norman Produce Awards. But this is no overnight success story. For this cheesemaking family, the long journey to the creation of award-winning cheese first began back in 1995, when Cambray Cheese founders Bruce and Jane Wilde purchased a farm on the outskirts of Nannup, in South West WA.

Cambray Cheese and finalist cheese for the DHNPA — Cambray Cheese (left) on the 2025 judging table.

Jane had an ingrained passion for dairy, having helped her mother milk cows and churn butter as a child. Paired with Bruce’s background as a sheep farmer, the couple decided to begin the long process of breeding a milking flock from a small herd of imported East Friesian milking sheep.

Sheep are still a relatively niche milk source, being both lower yielding and harder to wrangle. But sheep’s milk is incredibly nutrient-dense: high in protein, vitamins, minerals and – importantly – fats, which makes it ideal for cheesemaking.

With their dairy sheep herd established, the Wildes finally built their cheese factory with the help of their son Tom. By 2005, they were ready to begin their cheesemaking operation. Second-generation cheesemaker Tom and his wife Maddie round out this family operation, which has spent the last 20 years creating cheeses that have built up a cult following with chefs.

“It’s been great to see Cambray Cheese’s evolution over the years. This cheese is simply lovely – sweet, nutty, with a long-lasting flavour and beautiful texture.”
– Matt Stone

Cambray Cheese on the judging table at DHNPA — Cambray on the judging table at Gildas.

Cambray Cheese now produces a unique range of cheeses that are made from both sheep’s milk and cow’s milk on the family farm using traditional methods. More than 20 different Cambray cheeses are currently on offer, from a variety of soft white-mould cheeses to Gouda, haloumi, marinated feta and the popular Blackwood blue-vein cheese.

But it’s Farmhouse Gold that is Cambray’s crowning glory – this matured sheep’s milk farmhouse cheese is aged for 12-24 months, offering a beautifully strong flavour and delightfully nutty aftertaste that won over our judges. Produce Awards National Judge Matt Stone says: “This particular cheese blew the judges away; a style that takes tremendous skill and patience to create.”

Delicious produce award winning Cambray Cheese with chef Matt Stone at the 2025 DHNPA — Matt Stone with Tom and Maddie Wilde.

Accepting their award from Stone in front of some of the country’s best chefs, Tom thanked all of the chefs who nominated them for judging, and for their ongoing support.

“It’s you guys that keep us going,” he said. “We as producers just want to make a living off the land, and… as a small producer… the only way we can do that is to have you guys backing us and to have us on menus.

“When you spend your days talking to sheep, there’s no recognition, but to have nights like this, where there’s a huge recognition, makes it all worthwhile.”