Coles' Extra Reserve Cheddar judged as best overall at 2016 Sydney Royal Cheese & Dairy Produce Show

The biggest winner at 2016's Sydney Royal Cheese & Dairy Produce Show was not a small-time artisanal producer, but the supermarket giant Coles.

Its Extra Reserve Cheddar (which is priced at $7 for a 500g block) scored multiple victories, taking out titles for Champion Cheddar Cheese, Champion Cow Milk Cheese, Champion Cheese of Show as well as the overall Best In Show. The awards were announced last night at the Sydney Showground in Sydney Olympic Park.

"We had over 300 entries across the cheese section," says Mark Livermore, chair of judges. "To get to be the championship cheese of the show, it had to go up against the winners in all the different categories." This meant that Coles Extra Reserve Cheddar beat cheeses by smaller producers such as Berrys Creek Gourmet Cheese and Meredith Dairy.

"It really is great to see that the retailers - whether it's Aldi or Coles or Woolworths - are entering product," says Livermore. "And the products that they're entering ... are the best products in Australia. And all of these products that won gold medals, particularly the champions, those products would hold their own in any competition anywhere in the world."

The competition-blitzing Extra Reserve Cheddar was made for Coles by Bega - which may sour celebrations somewhat, given that Coles recently chose not to renew its private-label contract with the Bega Valley cheese producer. That contract has been awarded to Murray Goulburn - a company that also had success at the show. The Victorian dairy processor won Aldi the Champion White Milk prize at the awards.

Aldi was previously a controversial winner at the event. Back in 2013, the discount supermarket was named the show's most successful dairy produce exhibitor, after scoring eight gold medals (and 49 accolades in total). It prompted outrage from boutique producers, with Pepe Saya's Pierre Issa (who supplies hand-churned butter to Neil Perry's restaurants) deriding "philistines" like Coles and Aldi for being able to enter the dairy competition with its generic brands.

So has this backlash changed the Sydney Royal Cheese & Dairy Produce Show in any way?

"It hasn't affected it all - we're judging the product. And I think it's great to see the manufacturers and the supermarkets entering," says Livermore. "I know there was a little bit of controversy, but the reality is that they're Australian dairy products and they're available to anyone anywhere in Australia, basically."