The premium hard cheeses – the 6- and 12-month-aged Dürr Classic and the Dürr Zeller – have earned the highest accolade at the prestigious Le Mondial du Fromage international cheese and dairy produce contest in France. Each product scored over 90 points out of the possible 100, securing gold medals.

The Dürr range of hard cheeses is manufactured using raw milk sourced from EkoNiva’s farms and processed at its plant in Voronezh oblast. Its distinctive feature is the use of Brevibacterium Linens for natural maturation, which imparts the colour – varying from orange to rich orange – to the rind as well as unique full-bodied flavour to the cheeses.

The 6-month-aged Dürr Classic cheese has a creamy flavour with overtones of spicy herbs and freshly baked white bread. Its aroma is delicate and buttery, with the subtle hints of mushrooms and baked milk. The 12-month-aged Dürr Classic cheese has a slightly sweet creamy flavour with the notes of nuts and freshly baked rye bread. Its buttery aroma is delicately piquant with nutty undertones.

Inspired by Swiss Appenzeller, the Dürr Zeller has a nutty aroma with a pronounced creamy flavour followed by a slight, pleasant tang in the finish. Its consistency breaks the mould of traditional hard cheese standards: while being firm and elastic, it is also soft, almost creamy.

At the Le Mondial du Fromage, EkoNiva also presented the Dürr Platinum cheese and the innovative High Focus milk-based drink with the Pear and Parmesan flavour, which received a silver and a bronze medal, respectively.

The 15-month-aged Dürr Platinum cheese has a distinct creamy flavour with nutty overtones. The aroma is rich, and the aftertaste reveals subtle woody undertones.

High Focus is the company’s brand-new drink for boosting energy and concentration levels, which hit the market in the spring of 2025. At the heart of the product is lactose-free milk complemented by guarana extract, green tea extract with L-theanine, B vitamins and glucose. High Focus does not contain preservatives.

‘Winning this contest is an enormous success both for EkoNiva and Russia as a whole. Just four years on the market, the cheeses of the Dürr lineup have already gained recognition as some of the best in Europe. The competition was fierce: our products were evaluated anonymously against samples presented by manufacturers from Switzerland, Germany, France and Italy. It has been hard, but the gratification is thus higher. I would even compare such an award to Michelin stars, since the contest provides an independent expert assessment of product quality. This is a worthy reward for the work of the whole team involved in the creation of our cheeses. The victory motivates us to further develop, improve and expand the range of EKONIVA cheeses.’
Andreas Allerberger, Manager of Milk Processing Projects at EkoNiva Group

Le Mondial du Fromage takes place in Tours, France. It is one of the largest and most prestigious competitions for the best cheeses and dairy products in Europe and around the world. About 1,900 cheeses from 16 countries were showcased at the event, and over 320 jury members evaluated them based on five criteria: appearance, aroma, flavour, texture and balance. Following a blind tasting, each of the products was given a total score calculated as a mean value according to the above-mentioned criteria.