Winter variety developed in Canada by sowing seeds of the McIntosh variety from open pollination. This variety is included in the State Register in the Central Chernozem region and is rapidly spreading in Belgorod, Voronezh, Kursk, Lipetsk, Orel, and Tambov regions. In the Lower Volga region, this variety undergoes extensive field trials and is recognized as a promising variety.
In its youth, the tree has a vertically oval crown, grows rapidly, but as it ages, growth slows and trees attain medium height with a wide, rounded, and somewhat sparse crown. Fruit set is concentrated, mainly on spurs and lateral branches at the tips of last year’s growth.
Shoots of medium thickness, slightly curved, jointed, dark brown with a cherry hue, moderately hairy. Buds are numerous, varying in size, oval. Internode length is medium.
Leaves are green, medium to large, more often egg-shaped than oval, with a strongly curled tip and heart-shaped base. Leaf surface is wrinkled, slightly bumpy, matte, slightly curved. Leaf apex is broadly wedge-shaped, tip small, moderately tapering. Leaf margins are single, but more often doubly toothed. Petioles have small stipules, wedge-shaped, but more often lanceolate.
Fruits are large, less often medium-sized, uniform, ranging from flattened-round to round-conical shape, weakly ribbed, with strong waxy bloom. Surface is smooth. Main color is yellow-green, almost entirely covered with a mottled, blurred, decorative, pinkish-red blush; upon harvesting, the color turns purplish-red due to strong waxy bloom. Lenticels are of medium quantity, large, white, clearly visible. Peduncles are thick with swelling at the end, not exceeding the calyx. Calyx is deep and wide. Receptacle is medium-sized, relatively small, medium or narrow width, slightly ribbed. Calyx tube is medium-sized, closed or occasionally half-open. Seed chambers are small, closed, but more often half-open into a relatively small central cavity. Heart is small, heart-shaped.
Flesh is white, finely textured, juicy, tender, with pleasant sweet-tart flavor. Chemical composition of fruit: dry matter — 15.7% (max 17.4%), total sugars — 10.3% (10.9%), titratable acids — 0.49% (0.54%) on fresh weight, ascorbic acid — 10.7 mg/100g (16.1), sugar-to-acid ratio — 21.4 (27.2).
In the Lower Volga region, fruit ripens in autumn and is not suitable for long-term storage.
The variety is early-bearing, annually fruiting, and high-yielding. It has moderate winter hardiness in the middle zone and higher in the Lower Volga region. It exhibits high drought resistance and relatively weak heat tolerance, weak resistance to powdery mildew, and in wet years, fruits and leaves are susceptible to scab.
Advantages of the variety: high stable yield, large fruits distinguished by high commercial and taste quality.
Disadvantages of the variety: weak resistance to scab and powdery mildew.
The variety is especially valuable not only for industrial orchards but also for farmsteads and home gardens in all zones of industrial fruit growing where the McIntosh variety is cultivated.
