Winekist
Fall-winter. Summer. Unknown parentage, Winthrop, ME mid-20th century. Developed by the orchardist and variety collector Morris Towle (1911-1993). Medium-small-sized, red-fleshed apple with quite decent, though extremely tart, flavor. Leaves have a dark reddish cast to them. Blossoms are red. Wood, when you cut into it, is pink. The fruit has wine-red skin with areas and stripes of darker red and very small white dots. The overall effect is dark red. Very juicy coarse flesh is almost solid beet red: a real eye popper. A good addition to cider or sauce. There were two Winekist trees on Morris Towle’s farm in Winthrop. Both are now gone. The only surviving mature tree I know of is in Sidney at the farm of Erland Goodhue. That tree is bushy and about 15' tall. Goodhue received his wood from Towle several decades ago. We have grafted dozens of trees during the past dozen years. Many of those trees are now bearing fruit. The apple’s season is early to mid-August.