FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS
Founded in 1994, Woodside Cheese Wrights began as an unassuming cheese factory in the small town of Woodside in the Adelaide Hills.
When Kris Lloyd took charge in 1999 she was given the challenge of running a cheese factory with zero cheesemaking experience to her name. So, Kris began to tirelessly study cheese and the cheesemaking process.
Coming from a Greek family, where she was taught a great respect for food and that food is always the hero, Kris wanted to bring that philosophy to her cheesemaking: Cheese is a complete food and can and should be the hero of any menu, platter or dish.
Kris focussed on highlighting the flavour and seasonality of the quality local cow and goat milk she had at her fingertips, sourced from nearby local dairies. True to the artisan meaning, Woodside Cheese Wrights produces every cheese by hand using traditional methods originating in Switzerland, Italy and France that Kris adapted to reflect Australian milk, conditions and cheesemaking practices.
It wasn’t long until, in 2002, Woodside Cheese Wrights was first awarded with the Grand Dairy Award for best goat cheese in Australia for the sexy geotrichum mould goat cheese: Edith. And the accolades would continue, with Half Cow-Half Goat Cheese Etzy Ketzy winning a Gold Medal at the World Cheese Awards in 2009, and two more Gold at the World Cheese Awards in 2011.
At the 2016 World Cheese Awards in San Sebastian, Spain, Woodside Cheese Wrights was honoured to receive a Super Gold Medal for Anthill – fresh goat chevre encrusted with native Australian Green Ants -coming in at number 11 out of 3021 cheeses. In the 2022 World Cheese Awards, Anthill reprised it’s Super Gold Status and was crowned Best Australian Cheese.