As 2025 wound down, I finally got back to the rootcellar, pulled out two boxes of apples from our orchards and went through them bag by bag. Each box holds a dozen bags or so, and each bag holds about a dozen apples of a particular selection. You might think I’ve seen them all a hundred times, done all the descriptions and taken every possible apple-photo that could ever be taken. I haven’t. At least not yet. Maybe I never will. Maybe it’s an infinite process.
I do fill in a few more blanks each time I pull them out. Any new or updated information goes into my descriptive key where I can access it as I attempt to speak or write intelligently about this cultivar or that. And of course I can also use the key to do ID’s. Every year new trees fruit for the first time, or maybe they produce their first decent size crop. Or maybe it’s the first time I actually got to them before they fell to the ground and rotted!
I’ll mention one in particular that I spent some time with today. It’s become a favorite. Marechal is a small-medium-sized, partly russeted, French bittersweet. For starters, it has this rather amazing patch of lumpy, bumpy russet that emerges from the cavity. I know, looks aren’t everything. In fact, they’re way overrated, but you have to start somewhere. Right? But, Marechal also has a lot going on in the inside where it really counts. Its spongy, white flesh “literally” explodes with flavor. It’s sweet, juicy, floral, perfumy and mildly bitter. It also ripens late. We pick ours a week before Halloween. That gives the apple all that much more time to develop its flavors. I think it’s a fantastic apple.
I obtained our original Marechal (PI 589128) scionwood from the USDA ARS PGRU in Geneva NY. So far, our ten-year-old standard trees are hardy and productive. But, how does it translate into cider? Although I’ve only pressed the apples into our barrel-blends which makes it challenging to pinpoint what it contributes, I suspect it will be a great addition when we begin to get sizable crops.
Last but not least, the apple reminds me of my favorite pitcher in the 1960’s when I was a fanatic San Francisco Giants fan. One of the best games I ever attended was on July 2, 1963 when “Juan Antonio Marichal Sánchez” (aka Juan Marichal) and the Milwaukee Braves’ Warren Spahn both pitched 16 scoreless innings until Willie Mays hit a one-run walk-off homer to win for the Giants. My Dad and I were there! For that reason alone, all cidermakers should grow Marechal!