Forget cheddar or brie. A cheese you may never have heard of has just been crowned South Australia’s champion – and it was created by a small Angaston cheesemaker that handcrafts their cheeses.
Barossa Valley Cheese Company’s lactic-set Barossa Luma was named Champion SA Cheese on Friday, August 7, at the 2026 Royal Adelaide Show Dairy Products competition.
The cheese company also picked up gold medals for their handmade Barossa La Dame and Barossa Feta, but it was the newcomer that took out the top prize.
Owner Victoria’s McClurg’s journey into cheesemaking began while working as a winemaker in Bordeaux, where she fell in love with France’s artisan cheese culture. She returned to the Barossa, began making cheese in her mum’s kitchen, and in 2003 opened Barossa Valley Cheese Company in Angaston.
Victoria said that the team has been experimenting with the style of the Barossa Luma around two years, testing different recipes and working out how to make the cheese consistently within its Angaston facility.
Similar in style to a French Chaource, Barossa Luma is a soft, lactic-set cow’s milk cheese that starts fresh and delicate before becoming increasingly creamy as it ages.
“It takes a little bit of time to work out how to make it work within the facility we have,” she said.
Lactic-set might not be the most immediately familiar description, but the process is what gives Luma its distinctive character, she said.
Rather than relying on rennet to rapidly set the curd, the cheesemakers add cultures to start the process.
“It’s a slow fermentation, and that fermentation causes the set of the cheese,” Victoria said.
The curds are then drained for 24 hours before the young cheeses head into a maturing room, where their rind begins to develop.
After four or five days, that rind has started to form. Within seven to eight days, the cheese is ready to eat.
As it ages, it softens and becomes creamier, but “it’s very different to like camamberts and bries,” Victoria said.
“It’s really nice, vibrant, fresh and delicate.”
Luma develops a slightly crinkly white rind and a texture that changes as it matures, making it the sort of cheese that looks as good on a platter as it does next to a glass of something cold.
“I would serve it with some nice fresh fruit, so really fresh, vibrant things,” she said.
And, naturally, there is a preferred drink.
“We always do champagne.”
Luma is being produced in small batches and, for now, its availability is limited to South Australia.
The Barossa Cheese Company has a Cheesecellar where you can taste the cheese, alongside local gourmet condiments and seasonal food and beverage pairings
Barossa Valley Cheese Company Cheesecellar
When: Wednesday to Monday 10am to 4pm, closed Tuesdays and all public holidays
Where: 67b Murray Street, Angaston
To find out more, click here.
