Bittersweet · 2 trees planted · confidence high
A well-regarded vintage-quality bittersweet with medium conical fruit heavily flushed dark red and hard, dry white flesh. WSU Mount Vernon measured it at SG 1.051, 12.5 Brix, 0.19% malic acid, 0.21% tannin, pH 4.34, 174 mL/lb juice yield, with mean bloom 5/16 and harvest 10/9 — a genuine low-acid bittersweet, though less tannic in western Washington than English data suggests. WSU rates it productive (3.9/5) with high bloom density (4.1/5), semi-spur bearing and a spreading habit, and their tasters found it good enough to stand alone with a fruity aroma and melon, berry and butterscotch notes.
Disease: Susceptible to scab and fireblight per UK and US nursery sources; one source rates it only slightly scab-susceptible but resistant to brown rot. No scab or fireblight rating is published in the WSU trial data, so susceptibility should be assumed under Olympic Peninsula scab pressure.
Discrepancies: Two real conflicts, both resolved toward WSU. First, chemistry: Long Ashton (England) gives SG 1.056 / 0.32% tannin / 0.20% acid, while WSU Mount Vernon gives SG 1.051 / 0.21% tannin / 0.19% acid. Acid agrees closely but WSU measured barely two-thirds the tannin. Recommended the WSU figures as the planning numbers because they come from the same marine climate as this orchard — expect a softer, less tannic juice here than English literature implies, and blend accordingly. Second, tree habit: UK nurseries describe it as low-vigor, tip-bearing and strongly biennial needing careful pruning, whereas WSU records semi-spur bearing, spreading habit, only semi-alternate bearing and a solid 3.9/5 productivity. Recommended moderate vigor and moderate (not high) biennial tendency per WSU, while noting the tip-bearing claim is worth verifying on-site since it changes pruning strategy. Harvest date likewise pulled forward to early October on WSU data.