This year turned out to be a breakout season for SweeTango.

Growers tripled the crop. Retailers distributed SweeTango to stores in cities across the nation. And, most importantly, the legion of SweeTango fans grew by leaps and bounds.

The SweeTango success left growers, retailers and apple lovers eagerly awaiting next year’s season.

“If it’s a representative democracy on Facebook, then SweeTango definitely lived up to its name and reputation,” said Tim Byrne, president of Next Big Thing, the growers cooperative that markets the apple. “People have voted with their posts and the overwhelming response was, ‘You’ve got a great piece of fruit here.'”

The success of any apple season starts long before fruit starts ripening on the trees. This year’s bountiful crop stemmed from good planning in prior years, committed growers and a bit of luck with the weather.

Growers in the SweeTango cooperative avoided major problems with weather or storms. The Pacific Northwest experienced cooler than usual weather, which pushed back the SweeTango harvest by a week to 10 days.

“The West Coast is usually seven to 10 days ahead of everyone else,” Byrne said. “But this year we all began to harvest fruit at the same time.”

The quirk of nature actually helped make this year’s first-ever national distribution of SweeTango run smoothly, Byrne said.

“With the fruit arriving at the same time, that makes it easier to tell consumers about the product,” he said.

Once SweeTangos started hitting stores, apple lovers helped spread the word. The SweeTango page on Facebook filled up with posts such as this one:

“Just discovered these a few weeks ago … my new favorite, the best tasting apple ever!!!! Leaves all the others in the dust.”

Fans are definitely wanting more. One SweeTango lover posted, “I miss SweeTango in Ohio! The season needs to be longer!!!”

While the nature of SweeTango growing means the fruit will remain a seasonal product, fans can look forward to increasingly availability next year. Byrne said growers are expected to produce twice as many SweeTango apples next year.

So thanks to the growers, retailers and, most of all, the SweeTango fans for a great season. Be sure to “like” SweeTango on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to keep up with us during the off season and to get the latest news about the progress of your favorite apple.