Raised by Major Esperen at Malines, Belgium about 1830. A high quality, late season pear. -- Arbury 1997 Monolinia fructigena fruit rot resistant in Germany. - Kock, 1911
Bergamotte Esperen. - Fruit medium sized, turbinate, and uneven in its outline. Skin rough from being entirely covered with dark brown russet. Eye very small, with incurved acute segments. Stalk an inch long, woody, and obliquely inserted. Flesh tender, juicy and melting, sweet and richly flavoured. This is one of the best late pears, ripening from the end of January up till March and April. The tree forms a handsome pyramid, and is an excellent bearer; but in late situations requires a wall. -- R. Hogg, The Fruit Manual, 1860.
Raised from seed about 1830 by Major Espdren, Mechlin, Bel. Of his many pears this was the most valuable. It is a most delicious late pear and a good successor to Winter Nelis. Fruit medium, frequently above, round, flat at base, mammillate at summit, and often bossed near stalk; skin rough to the touch, dull greenish-yellow, dotted with russet, streaked with russet around the stalk and often marked with blackish stains; flesh yellowish, fine-grained, quite melting, very juicy and sugary, with a pleasant aroma; mid-Feb. to April. -- U.P. Hedrick, 1921, The Pears of New York