New prestigious international award for Mandas cheese. Caseificio Garau wins the silver medal in the Pecorini category at the World Cheese Awards 2023 , the most important global dairy competition, with over 5,000 cheeses competing from forty different nations around the world.
«It was a participation with a succession of lucky fits – explains Marina Garau, who manages the company together with her brother Mimmo – we had planned to participate in the competition dedicated to the excellence of world-class cheeses, but due to the various tasks I had Having forgotten the deadline for registering, I decided to send an email to the World Cheese Awards staff anyway and they replied that number 5,110 was available, the last place of all the cheeses registered in the 2023 edition. Despite the timing very closely we managed to compete with our Grand Duke of Mandas who was aged for 8 months and was then awarded the splendid silver medal".
The jury was made up of 264 experts including retailers, buyers, producers and food critics. The World Cheese Awards, now in their 35th year, offer cheeses from six continents the chance to shine on the world stage in front of an international audience of experts and consumers. The Garau dairy is the oldest in Sardinia , it was founded in 1880 by Antonio Garau, great-grandfather of Marina and Mimmo.
In 2022 the company was awarded a coveted award from Gambero Rosso . «On that occasion we had not made any request to participate, but it was the communications manager of Gambero Rosso who asked us for a sampling of two cheeses, without specifying the reason for this request. We therefore decided to send the Granduca di Mandas, our flagship pecorino, and the Cardureu, an aromatic pecorino made with vegetable rennet which also received an award . The fact is that after a few weeks we started receiving orders for the 1st place by Gambero Rosso as the best Sardinian pecorino on the market and this is how we learned of the great result obtained of which we are truly proud", concludes Marina Garau.
