Champagne Renet (Paper Renet, Remarkable Renet, Paper Renet)

A widely cultivated western European winter variety in the past with an uncertain origin. It is encountered today, particularly in the foothill and Black Sea zones of the Krasnodar region, in modern commercial horticulture.

Trees of medium or above-medium growth vigor, with an inverted pyramidal crown in youth or a broad, rounded, cauldron-like crown when fruiting. Branches are directed upward.

Shoots are reddish-brown, hairy, and thickened. Leaves are usually large, oval or egg-shaped, with a rounded base, dark green, dense, thick, with serrated edges, smooth, shiny, and with short, broad stipules.

Late flowering helps preserve flowers in case of spring frosts.

Fruits are usually medium or larger in size, strongly flattened-round in shape, weakly ribbed with characteristic deep longitudinal grooves (ridges). The skin is thin, with a characteristic waxy coating for the variety, and oily to the touch. The primary color at harvest is light green with a delicate, blurred blush resembling a tan on parts of the fruit. As they ripen, fruits acquire a white waxy, later light-yellow coloration. The sun-exposed part of the fruit may occasionally show a delicate pink blush. The peduncle is short.

Flesh is white, juicy, firm, with greenish veins, and tart-sweet. During storage, acidity decreases and the flavor becomes more harmonious.

Harvest maturity of fruits occurs in mid-to-late September; fruits can be stored until April-May. During storage, if temperature drops below 0°C, fruits may develop browning and swelling.

The variety is early-bearing, high-yielding, but insufficiently cold-hardy and susceptible to scab.

Advantages of the variety: early bearing and high productivity of trees, good marketability and storability of fruits, late flowering.

Disadvantages of the variety: significant scab infection, insufficient cold hardiness, irregular fruiting.