Annie and Geoff Nieuwenhuis have their hands in the clouds and their hearts on the farm. The love for their goat cheese is so true, it earned them the title of 2022 Dairy Champion at the Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards.

Annie Nieuwenhuis had never even tasted goat cheese back in 2006 when she told her husband Geoff that they should “get some goats and make cheese”. Now, goats and cheese-making are so integral to their life, neither can imagine it any other way. “It’s a business, but it’s also a lifestyle,” Annie says of their brand, Nieuwenhuis Farmstead Cheese. “You have to love doing it — and we do.”

The Hawke’s Bay couple spent a decade learning their craft and breeding their herd, leaning into their shared deep love of animals, Annie’s hands-on knowledge and experience as a vet, and a desire to make the very best cheese they could. That dedication has paid off: in 2021, three years after starting to sell their products, the pair were named Champion Cheesemakers at the NZ Champions of Cheese Awards.

This year, ONZFPA judges reckoned their marinated “cloud” cheese was “perfection”, calling it “an impeccable product with beautiful flavour balance”.

“We have very defined roles,” Annie says. “Making the marinated cloud is a real team effort; we can do about 20 jars an hour. I’m very fussy with the balls, so I weigh and roll them, but Geoff puts them in the jar because he has better depth perception than I do.”

While the couple’s five young-adult children lend a hand when they’re home on the family’s Te Hauke farm, Annie and Geoff do everything from milking the goats to selling their cheeses at Hawke’s Bay Farmers’ Market on Sundays. They also get up at 3am to check pH levels on maturing curds.

“I said to Geoff a while ago, ‘What do you think retirement will be like for us?’” Annie says.

“He said: ‘That would mean no goats and no cheese, so I don’t think it will happen.’ This is our life.”

About the Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards

The winners of the sixth Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards make some of the most delicious food and drink Aotearoa has ever tasted. Salute the medallists and winners and show your support by buying their gourmet treats.

CATEGORY CHAMPIONS

Supreme Champion: Pure Pāua, Chatham Island Food Co, Chatham Islands
Giesen Paddock Co-Champion: Organic Free-Range Marinated Butterfly Chicken, Bostock Brothers Organic Free-Range Chicken, Hawke’s Bay
Giesen Paddock Co-Champion: Lamb Short Ribs, Middlehurst Delivered, Upper Awatere Valley
Emerson’s Dairy Champion: Marinated Cloud Fresh Goat Cheese in Oil, Nieuwenhuis Farmstead Cheese, Te Hauke
Seafood New Zealand Water Champion: Pure Pāua, Chatham Island Food Co, Chatham Islands
Farro Earth Champion: Uncut Raw Comb Honey of Aotearoa, J. Friend & Co, Christchurch
Label & Litho Drink Champion: Hill Road Orange Juice, Hill Road Orchard, Gisborne

Find the full list of winners here, and medallists here.