December 10: Winesap

East Coast before 1800
aka Potpie, Hendrick’s Sweet, American Wine Sop, Holland’s Red Winter

There may not be any apple that has more pseudonyms than Winesap!

Winesap is a beloved apple in the south and especially in Virginia where it was a major commercial variety.

It’s an all-arounder – good for fresh eating, baking, and cider. It’s got a firm and crisp juicy flesh with a sweet-tart wine-like flavor.

Its tough skin can present for challenging eating but for pie and cider, this apple is tops. They run small, though those that I included in the Advent calendar were among the largest I harvested. And, word on the street is that it will keep through late winter. Maybe stash it in the fruit drawer???

Oddly, the UK National Fruit Collection decided that Winesap is the same apple as an Irish variety called Bloody Butcher. I haven’t seen the genetic evidence for that myself but I tell you, it’s like a soap opera in the world of apple variety identification.

Read Adam’s Apples account of Winesap.

Growing Notes

As a southern apple it shouldn’t do well in Minnesota but it seems to like it here just fine. Zone 4.