Santa Cruz Apple Tasting 2019 Rankings (77 Varieties)

For the benefit of visitors to California Rare Fruit Growers northern circuit of Scion Exchanges, below is a complete tabluation of taster rankings from our October 2019 apple tasting in Santa Cruz, California, an event held now for over 30 years annually. Many (but not all) of the apples below will be available as scionwood at our local Monterey Bay scion exchange, and distributed to others run by northern California chapters of CRFG. These include heirloom, modern, and novel locally-discoved and bred apples.

Beginning with photos of a selection of the top 20 performing apples of this year’s 77 variety apple tasting, follow along below for a complete list of varieties, along with vote tallies and brix measurements. These are all Santa Cruz County grown fruit, as harvested in Oct 2019. Rankings are compiled from nearly 500 tasters (non-blind, apple names are provided), each allowed three favorite apple selections to post to our tally board. Thanks to Freddy Menge for tablulating data, to Freddy, Jim Rider, Zea Sonnebend et al. for growing fruit, to Jim, Sharon Zo, and Marc Mosko for brix measurements, with photos by Andy Moskowitz, and special thanks to all of our wonderful apple tasting volunteers. Compare also our rankings and extensive writeup on our 2018 tasting, and stay tuned for more thoughts on tasting apples.

  Ranking Variety
Votes
Brix
  1
Brushy Mountain Limbertwig
62 15.9
  2 Pineapple Crunch 47 15.8
  3 Karmijn de Sonnaville 35 20.1
  T-4 Stardust 33 15.4
  T-4 C-13-10 33 15.4
  6 Rachel’s Mystery 30 17.1
  7 Calville Blanc 26 16.4
  8 C-18-118 24 15
  T-9 Ambrosia 23 16
  T-9 C-11-210 23 14.8
  11 Hudson’s Golden Gem 21 17.1
  T-12 Banana Flower 19 16.5
  T-12 Wickson Crab 19 18.3
  14 Christmas Pink 18 14.2
  T-15 C-21-180 17 14.7
  T-15 Pink Parfait 17 15.4
  T-15 Cornerstone 17 17.9
  T-18 Grenadine 16 19.2
  T-18 Cornish Aromatic 16 15
  T-20 Tioga 15 14
  T-20 Allen’s Everlasting 15 21
  T-20 Tydemann’s Late Orange 15 18.6
  T-20 Red on Red 15 16.2
  T-24 Rubaiyat 14 16.1
  T-24 Pineapple Candy 14 19.7
  26 Belle de Boskoop 13 16.1
  T-27 White Winter Pearmain 12 14.5
  T-27 Fortune 12 15
  T-27 Pomme Gris 12 21.5
  T-27 Candy Crisp 12 14.9
  T-27 Crimson Topaz 12 15
  T-32 Kinnaird’s Choice 11 15.3
  T-32 Cameo 11 14.5
  T-32 Katherine 11 20
  T-32 Crimson Crisp 11 14
  T-36 Arlet 10 15
  T-36 Golden Russet 10 20.2
  T-36 Honeycrisp 10 15.5
  T-36 Belleflower 10 15.2
  T-36 Cox’s Orange Pippin 10 14.1
  T-36 Jupiter 10 14.1
  T-42 Hokuto 9 16
  T-42 Shizuka 9 16
  T-42 Splendour 9 16
  T-42 Snapdragon 9 15
  T-42 Rubinette 9 19.8
  T-47 Jazz 8 14
  T-47 Goldrush 8 16.7
  T-47 Zabergau Reinette 8 17.2
  T-47 Spitzenberg 8 15.9
  T-47 Edward’s Winter 8 17.9
  T-47 Suntan 8 20.5
  T-47 A-1-45 8 14.2
  T-54 Newtown Pippin 7 13.1
  T-54 King David 7 18.7
  T-54 Pinova 7 13.9
  T-58 Empire 6 15
  T-58 C-20-176 6 14.9
  T-58 Tompkins King 6 16
  T-58 Golden Delicious 6 15
  T-58 William Crump 6 16.2
  T-62 Silken 5 14.7
  T-62 Winesap 5 15
  T-62 McIntosh 5 13.5
  65 Sierra Beauty 4 14.8
  T-66 Fuji 3 17
  T-66 Braeburn 3 13.5
  T-66 Cortland 3 13.5
  T-66 Granny Smith 3 14.5
  T-66 Black Twig 3 13.8
  T-71 Jonagold 2 15.7
  T-71 Claygate Pearmain 2 15
  T-73 Gala 1 14.5
  T-73 Mutsu 1 15.2
  T-73 Reinette Rouge Etoilee 1 15.1
  T-76 Jonathan 0 15.5
  T-76 Red Delicious 0 16
 
 

4 Replies to “Santa Cruz Apple Tasting 2019 Rankings (77 Varieties)”

  1. I noticed that the bottom 15 or so varieties included many easy to find commercial varieties. Do you know if any apples were purchased or were they all from Freddy’s (or someone else’s) home orchard?
    I am not a fan of red delicious but my ex-wife insisted on one when I planted the orchard on our ranch in Mendocino Co. While it didn’t color up like in Washington state, it was crisp, sweet and had good flavor and acid balance. I’ve tried lots of varieties in apple pies but this is still one of my favorites. But I wouldn’t dream of trying it with commercial fruit.

    1. Hi Art (nice to see your name here! We miss you every fall at the apple tasting). In answer to your question, none of the apples were purchased; I believe that they all came from Jim Rider, Freddy Menge, and Zea Sonnabend’s orchards. Some of Jim’s apples had been in storage though, and he tends to be our source of some of the commercial varieties.

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