New season - spring 2025You can pre-order now for shipping in spring 2025. No need to pay at this stage.
Over 250 specialist fruit tree varieties for your orchard or back-yard

Vilberie cider apple trees

Vilberie apples
Vilberie is listed in the RHS Plants for Pollinators
  • Self-fertility: Partially self-fertile
  • Pollination group: 6
  • Uses: Hard cider

Vilberie is a traditional French hard-cider variety, producing a very tannic but sweet bittersweet juice.

The juice would normally be blended with juice from other varieties to produce a balanced cider.

Vilberie cider apple trees for sale

You can pre-order now for spring 2025

  • Semi-dwarf 1-year bare-root tree $37.95
    Mature height: 8ft-12ft after 10 years
    G.969 rootstock

How to grow

Like a number of traditional English and French cider varieties, Vilberie is very late-blooming - in southern England or northern France it will typically flower in the last week of May. This can make cross-pollination an issue unless you have other late-flowering varieties available, although it seems to have reasonable self-fertility.

Advice on fruit tree pollination.

History

Vilberie is an old French variety, introduced to England in the late 19th century.

Vilberie characteristics

  • Gardening skillExperienced
  • Self-fertilityPartially self-fertile
  • Pollination group6
  • Pollinating othersAverage
  • Picking seasonVery late
  • UsesHard cider
  • Keeping (of fruit)2-3 weeks
  • General resistanceAverage
  • FireblightSome susceptibility
  • Cold hardiness (USDA)Zone 5 (-29C)
  • Summer maximum temperaturesCool ( 20-24C / 68-75F)Warm (25-30C / 76-85F)
  • Country of originFrance
  • Period of origin1800 - 1849
  • Fruit colorGreen