“The phone calls don’t stop. Since Saturday it has been pandemonium, in a good way”, said the founder of Quinta do Pomar, Joaquim Duarte Alves, who this year began to be “in the background” and handed over leadership of the business to his son, Nuno, 48 years old, and his daughter-in-law, Sonia.

According to Joaquim Alves, 73 years old, the award already reflects demand.

The batch of award-winning cheese sold out immediately and orders were so many that the founder fears there won't be enough milk to meet orders by Christmas.

“We are receiving requests from people who want to export to the United States, to France, to several countries, and cheese cannot be made overnight. The cure takes 45 days”, highlighted Joaquim Alves.

The buttery sheep's cheese from Queijaria Quinta do Pomar was considered the best in the world at the 'World Cheese Awards 2024', among 4,786 cheeses evaluated from 47 countries.

The company's founder, who learned from his father and taught the craft to his son, explained that it is “a buttery saw-type cheese, made with raw sheep's milk, curdled with thistle flowers”, sold for around 13 euros.

Joaquim Alves highlighted that the most important thing in the production of cheese is the raw material, having good milk, purchased from producers in the Serra da Gardunha, “within a radius of 10 to 15 kilometres”.

Afterwards, you need to know how to clean the thistle, be careful with the seasoning, and not add thistle or too much salt, he highlighted.

This is followed by 40 to 45 days of curing on shelves in a darkroom, the first two weeks at a lower and then higher temperature.

Joaquim Alves is the son of a cheesemaker from Soalheira, a village where the Fundão Chamber promotes the Cheese Fair every year.

The company was founded with his wife, Maria José, in 1983, first in the home store. He later expanded the facilities on land behind the residence and, in 2015, moved to a new unit, in the Soalheira Industrial Park, in the municipality of Fundão, Castelo Branco district, where there is the capacity to double current production.

With an annual turnover of one million euros, the cheese factory has 12 employees and produces around 400 to 500 cheeses daily, 150 to 200 of which are buttery sheep's cheese.

Joaquim Alves highlighted that the award-winning product, which has already won three previous medals in international competitions, is not the best-selling cheese, but the traditional one from the area, made from a mixture of sheep and goat.

The company's founder did not imagine that, the first time they competed for the sector's equivalent of the Oscar, they would emerge with the greatest distinction and considered the award “a source of pride”, the result of the work that goes into improving what is done.

“This award is not just ours. It’s from Soalheira, Fundão, the region’s milk producers and Portugal”, the businessman told Lusa, who has been contacted by acquaintances who saw the news of the award in media outlets abroad.