Burgundy Apple (Spring 2027)

New to us this year, so the notes below come from the Geneva breeding records and from growers who have had it longer. We will update once we have fruited it here and seen how it handles a Montana winter.

Overview

Burgundy is about as dark as an apple gets without being a novelty, and unlike most of the pretty ones it has serious hardiness behind it. Cut one open and you will find waves and rays of red running through the flesh, which is not something you see every day.

Origin and History

R.C. Lamb made the cross at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva in 1953, using Monroe as one parent and a numbered seedling called NY 18491 as the other. NY 18491 is Macoun crossed with Antonovka, and it is the same apple we sell as Rhuby. About 357 seedlings from the cross went in the ground in 1955, the first fruit came in 1960, R.D. Way pulled several selections in 1961, and one of them, NY 161, was finally released as Burgundy in 1974. So if you plant Burgundy and Rhuby together you are growing a child and its parent, and the Antonovka behind both of them is where all that hardiness comes from.

Fruit and Uses

Large fruit, up to about three inches, glossy and purplish red. Firm and juicy with red rays through the flesh, a strong distinctive aroma, and a tart zingy finish. It is a very good dessert apple, it holds its shape cooking, and it makes an aromatic, well-balanced early cider. It stores about two months. Two practical points worth knowing: it bears annually rather than alternating, and the fruit hangs on the tree without dropping early, so you get an extended picking window instead of one frantic weekend.

Growth Habit and Spacing

Ours are on Bud 118 semi-dwarf rootstock. Plan on about 15 feet between trees, and up to 18 feet if you want better airflow and less pruning pressure over time. Vigorous grower.

Pollination

Burgundy needs a pollenizer. Our bloom data has it mid-season, though some northern growers report it blooming late, so the safest play is to pair it with something that overlaps both. Honeycrisp, Macoun, Cortland and most of our crabapples will cover you either way.

Cold Hardiness

We are listing it at zone 2b. St. Lawrence Nurseries, who have grown it in Potsdam, New York for years, rate it to -50°F, and Fedco up in Maine calls it extremely hardy and recommends it for all northern districts. We would rather stay conservative until we have our own winter data, but the Antonovka parentage makes those numbers believable.

Photo credit: “Cross section of Burgundy” by the National Fruit Collection, Brogdale, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under the Open Government Licence v2.0.

Photos: “Burgundy jm55144” by joergens.mi, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; “PI 588835 Burgundy, Malus domestica, fruit image (2012)” by USDA-ARS National Plant Germplasm System, Plant Genetic Resources Unit, Geneva NY, via USDA GRIN, public domain.