They are grown at high altitudes around Almaty in the southeastern Almaty Province of Kazakhstan.
Recommended pollinators are wild apple trees such as Nedzvetski and Sivers.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) out of Geneva started a project in 2005 to organize the small growers of Aport Apples into cooperative, voluntary associations to make them more competitive against imports of other apples. The associations allow them to afford apple-processing machinery, and to afford modern facilities to store apples to be sold when prices are higher.
History Notes
Aport Apples originated in southern Russia. They were brought to Almaty around 1865.
The city name of “Almaty” is derived from the Kazakh word for apple.
The apples were traditionally stored under straw to ripen.
Sources
Blua, Antoine. Kazakhstan: Project Aims To Help Apple Farmers Take Bite Out Of Imports. Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. Wednesday, January 19, 2005. Retrieved March 2008 from http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/01/be5163f3-b2a6-4bd5-9a06-e2982560d3dc.html
Greenall, Robert. Almaty apples get new lease of life. BBC. Sunday, 3 December 2005. Retrieved April 2008 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4494520.stm
International Science & Technology Center. Revival of the Unique Variety of the Aport Apple Tree by Means of Selection of Wilding – Grafting and Method of Micro-Cloning Multiplication of the Best Genetic Types. #K-483. Retrieved March 2008 from http://www.istc.ru/istc/sc.nsf/html/projects.htm?open&id=K-483