Welsh Ice cream company scoops top award
A Carmarthenshire ice cream company has won one of the highest honours in the food industry at the 2025 Great Taste Awards.
Mario’s Luxury Dairy Ice Cream, based in Cross Hands, was awarded the Golden Fork from Wales for its Blackcurrant and Cassis Sorbet. The award was announced at the Great Taste Golden Forks ceremony, following months of judging involving more than 500 chefs, buyers and food writers.
The sorbet, described by judges as having a strong fruit profile and smooth texture, was selected from more than 14,000 products entered into the awards.
It had already received the maximum three-star rating before being named the best food or drink product from Wales.
Further recognition
The company also secured further recognition this year with its Clotted Cream Ice Cream winning three stars, and two-star ratings for its Clotted Cream Raspberry Ripple and Olive Oil, Honey and Rock Salt flavours.
Founded more than 40 years ago by Italian-born ice cream maker Mario Dallavalle, the Mario’s uses milk from a Carmarthenshire dairy and Welsh cream across a range of more than 40 products.
Its ice cream and sorbets are supplied to hotels, restaurants, supermarkets and independent retailers across Wales and the UK.
Deputy First Minister Huw Irranca-Davies, who is also Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs, congratulated the company, calling it “a shining example of the excellence and creativity that define Welsh food and drink.”
Welsh products
The Guild of Fine Food, which runs the awards, said Mario’s was one of a record 146 Welsh products to receive Great Taste recognition in 2025. This included eight that were awarded three stars, 40 with two stars and 98 with one star. Products ranged from artisan cheeses and craft ciders to meats and baked goods.
The Great Taste Awards, established in 1994, are considered one of the most rigorous tests of food and drink in the UK, with entries judged through blind tastings. Only around 2% of products achieve the top three-star ranking each year.
The full list of winners is available here.
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It is such a shame that Welsh government funded organisations keep deliberately excluding Welsh producers.
It is absurd that Swansea Train Station is not selling products produced locally, but instead train passengers have to pay inflated prices for Costas packaged foods.
Maturer economies such as France focus on selling healthy regional products at service stations, on their ferry networks, airports etc – why is the Senedd not focused?
Because the Government doesn’t care about supporting farmers and making Wales and the UK at large food secure. We are one of the least biodiverse countries in the world and have completely turned our back on our farmers, our soil and our nature. All we seem to be focused on is green washing initiatives that are both short-sighted and unsustainable. Have an electric car you can’t afford and a heat pump that is incompatible with your Victorian home and be comfortable in knowing you are an eco warrior that powers their green home with energy produced in power plants we… Read more »