I don't have much to post here other than to share a site that I recently encountered online and that I want all other cider afficionados to be aware of:

<http://www.laconfreriedesfinsg.....ml&gt;

I ended-up printing the whole entry because I figured I'd never again see a site that so nicely illustrated so many French cider apples with their IDs.  The folks who established the site get my highest commendation and appreciation (-- mes amies! ).

With my interest in (hard) cider apples, I've been spending a lot of time over about the last 3-4 years trying to learn what I can in regard to traditional cider apples from SW England and from the Normandy region of France, which (climatically) might be reasonably suited to, or worthy of trial in, our Pacific Northwest climate (i.e., Cascadia).  Some cider apple cultivars are becoming reasonably well-known, having done well in various parts of the U.S.  However, there are also lesser known cultivars that are held in the Malus germplasm collection in Geneva, NY, which were received largely in the 1940s.  This always intrigues me.  I cannot help but wonder whether an American GI in western France in WWII fell in love with French cider, then pursued the acquisition of French cider apples after the war.  I'll never know.  Nevertheless, many cider apples of the time were acquired and still persist in the USDA germplasm collection and apparently remain untrialed across the U.S.  I had hoped to acquire some of these as dormant scionwood this winter, but our President's partial government shutdown prevented that.  So, I hope to acquire some of them this summer instead.  I have one French bittersweet apple that I budded 4 years ago that is probably now extinct in France.  When it was received by the USDA, it was reported by the French sender as having been cultivated by one gentleman for 60 years, if memory serves.  That would date it back to at least the 1890s.  Whether an apple is pretty or not, if a French gentleman fostered and used this particular apple for 6 decades then I certainly want to give it a fair trial on my property.  

Tim