Fresco Mascarpone Wins Gold at the 2026 DIAA Australian Dairy Product Awards
We're rapt to share some news straight from the factory floor in Burleigh Heads: Fresco Mascarpone has taken out Gold at the 2026 DIAA Australian Dairy Product Awards, scoring 18.3 in the Soft Cheese (not mould-ripened, not flavoured) category and earning Fresco recognition as the Champion for World's Best Mascarpone.
Off the back of that win, Fresco has also been recognised as producing the Highest Rated Italian Cheese in Australia, a title judged by the Dairy Industry Association of Australia (DIAA), the country's largest and longest-running dairy competition.
For a business that's been hand-crafting cheese on the Gold Coast for close to four decades, it's a milestone worth celebrating and one more reason chefs and home cooks alike keep coming back to Fresco.
What the Award Actually Means
The DIAA Awards aren't a popularity contest. Every entry is judged on technical merit by industry experts, scored against strict criteria including flavour, aroma, body, texture, condition, colour and finish. A Gold medal means the product has been benchmarked against the best mascarpone makers in the country and come out on top.
An 18.3 score puts Fresco Mascarpone firmly in Champion territory — the kind of result that reflects genuine craftsmanship, not luck. It's judges independently confirming what our customers have been telling us for years: this is a mascarpone worth building a menu around.
Why This Win Matters for Our Customers
For our foodservice partners cafes, restaurants, caterers and food manufacturers — an independently judged Gold medal is more than bragging rights. It's a quality guarantee you can pass straight on to your own customers. Whether it's folded through a tiramisu, stirred into a risotto, or served alongside fresh fruit, you're working with a product that's been verified as one of the best in Australia.
For our retail customers, it's the same story with less jargon: award-winning, Australian-made, and crafted the traditional way, right here in Burleigh Heads.
A Tradition of Craftsmanship
Fresco has been making fresh Italian-style cheese on the Gold Coast since the late 1980s, and this Gold medal continues a track record of DIAA recognition that includes our Cypriot-style Haloumi being judged Best in Class back in 2019. Wins like this don't happen by accident — they come from sourcing quality milk from local Australian dairy farmers, sticking to traditional recipes, and having a team that genuinely cares about the craft.
As an SQF-accredited manufacturer, we hold ourselves to some of the highest food safety standards in the world, and awards like this are proof that quality and consistency go hand in hand at Fresco.
Taste the Award-Winning Difference
Whether you're a chef looking to elevate your menu or a home cook after the real deal, our award-winning Mascarpone is available now.
Foodservice and wholesale customers: Get in touch with our team to arrange bulk supply for your kitchen.
Retail customers: Check our website or visit us direct at our Burleigh Heads Cheesery.
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