I recently read a fascinating article in the New Yorker magazine about developing apple varieties and the history of Honeycrisp:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/11/21/111121fa_fact_seabrook

One of the amazing stories is about a guy who tastes 500 apples a day in his quest for a new variety--what a job. There is a description of what they call "drift", where a variety changes over time as it is propagated. It occurs because of random mutations known as sports--these branches produce fruit slightly different than the named variety. What usually happens is that a "red drift" occurs because the producers in the past wanted a redder apple. The author claims that this is one of the reasons for the ruin of Red Delicious. In time, he claims, this will also happen to Honeycrisp.

I'm wondering if any of you experienced growers have seen this drift. I always thought that differences or changes in varieties might be due to labeling errors. Is that Jonagold that I grow the same one that you grow?

Marc