Reine Claude Doree

Plum

Size

Small

Shape

Round

Flavor

Exceptionally sweet and aromatic, honey and apricot notes with a citric tang balancing the sugar; can reach very high sugar levels

Texture

Dense, juicy, melting/smooth flesh

Ripening window

August - September

Best uses

Fresh eating (classic dessert gage); also cooked, canned, preserved

Pollination

Not self-fertile - needs another compatible European plum (Cambridge Gage, Denniston's Superb, Czar, Victoria, Purple Gage, or a damson)

Tree size

12-16 ft on semi-dwarf (Mariana) rootstock; dwarf on St. Julian A rootstock ~4-5 ft

Notes

"Golden Greengage" - a very old French greengage-type European plum (Prunus domestica), considered by several sources to be the original/archetypal greengage. USDA zone 6 hardy (to about -20F). Good general disease resistance but susceptible to brown rot; historically difficult to grow well - erratic/biennial cropping, slow to first fruit (up to 7 years), fruit prone to cracking/rotting in rain. Parent variety that Reine Claude de Bavay was later bred to improve upon (larger, firmer, self-fertile). Sometimes conflated with the related but distinct Oullins Gage in retail listings - watch for that if adding Oullins later. Originally grouped as an unidentified/"Other" pin in your source data - the name didn't contain the word "Plum" so it was missed by the initial category parser; reclassified here into stone_fruit alongside the other plum-family varieties.