The skin of the fruit is a delicately waxy yellow-green with crimson spots and reddish lines, but the apple may also occur in a classically red variation.

Gravenstein trees are among the largest of standard-root apples, with a strong branching structure; the wood is brownish-red and the leaves are large, shiny, and dark green.

In the United States, Gravensteins are found most widely on the west coast, and in particular, around the Sonoma County, California, town of Sebastopol.

Most of the orchards in Sonoma County are now gone due to a combination of a shift to wine production, and economic changes in the apple industry.

[citation needed] California State Route 116 through portions of western Sonoma County is designated "Gravenstein Highway" to commemorate the industry.

According to a common version of events, Gravenstein was brought to Denmark by count Carl Ahlstedt, who found it at the monastery L'Abbaye de Hautcombe near Lac du Bourget in Savoyen.

He sent branches home to his brother, count Frederik the Younger (1662-1708), who grafted them onto an apple tree in the garden of the family's Gråsten Palace.

[2] The Gravenstein apple was introduced to western North America in the early 19th century, perhaps by Russian fur traders, who are said to have planted a tree at Fort Ross in 1811.