> Even the classic Red Delicious

You are right about the flavor profile - but Red Delicious gets its bad rap from being mealy.

Now that might be due to historical transport and storage practices during the era when Red Delicious reigned supreme, in which case it is indeed a bad rap. But for me crispness is king and I remember eating mealy red delicious apples at school lunch and hating them. I had no problems with the apples my mother bought which were all sorts of non-Red-Delicious varities.