Apple harvest: Yello’s time to shine at Montague

For more than 100 years, the Priest family have grown and harvested beautiful fruit. And this season was no exception.

For more than 100 years, the Priest family at Pakenham has grown and harvested fruit.

And this year was no exception, fourth-generation orchardist Paul Priest just wrapping up harvest of the annual crop of Yello apples.

The Yello variety is exclusively grown and managed by Montague in Australia, with orchards in Pakenham, Drouin, the Yarra Valley and Mornington Peninsula.

At his Pakenham orchard, Paul and his brother Shane grow about 10,000 Yello trees, alongside varieties such as Pink Lady, Granny Smith, Fuji, Golden Delicious, and Gala.

Known for its complex flavour profile with notes of pear and pineapple, the Yello was developed at the Nagano Research Centre in Japan in the 1980s.

Grower Paul Priest with Yello apples at his Pakenham orchard. Picture: Zoe Phillips

And for the past six years, the Priest family has been growing and harvesting this fusion fruit, which is a cross between a Golden Delicious and Senshu apple.

“This season for Yello – and most varieties – was favourable, the weather conditions were good, the quality is good, and the colour is good,” Paul said.

“The only thing we were disappointed in was the size. They’re still a good size … if we were being fussy we’d have liked another size in the fruit, and most people ended up with a quality fruit.”

He said this year’s harvest yielded about 450 bins at 400kg per bin.

“Harvest was good, and we’re happy with the quality,” Paul said.

For more than 100 years, the Priest family has grown and harvested fruit at their Pakenham-based orchard. Since 2017, the family has also grown Yello apples for Montague. Picture: Zoe Phillips

“And the yield was good, it was down on what we’d expected. Every year is different and we had a bit of natural fruit drop, and some bird damage. But that’s how it goes, and we’re pretty happy.”