This is terrific, Jeff.
I'm lucky to be able to taste a lot of rare/heirloom/whatever apples due to extended stays in Vermont, and I suppose I should have been taking more notes along the way. I've mostly only paid attention to how they influence cider, but I do have some favorites that I manage to remember from year to year.
That one once made it to a Boston Whole Foods for about an hour and a half, as far as I could tell, but to get it there they had to pull the usual produce shit of picking it way early, when it was hard and flavorless. When I've had it in VT, it was better.
I seem to remember having textural issues with this one as well. Something it shares with a lot of the smaller apples; I expect some sort of crabapple-like snap, and instead I get highly aromatic mush (or hardened mush).
And this one is absolutely one of my favorites, though I don't see it all that often. Certainly not every year.
Contrary to the proffered definition of heirloom/whatever, these are available in supermarkets in certain locales. And I agree that, if they're ripe, they're usually much more interesting than the commercial varieties. But "if they're ripe" is a persistent problem; hand-delivered (well, truck-delivered) to one Lebanon, NH supermarket, they're terrific. By the time they get through the distribution maze to the bigger supermarket chain down the road, they're toast.
On the subject of cider in general, everyone always looks for wine-related names in Paris, but the extremely enjoyable
Breizh Caf in the Marais has a pretty killer list of ciders and such, and the buckwheat galettes & crpes are extraordinary. Fans of fermented apple should really give it a try or two.
