I am pleasantly surprised you can grow Rainier with no issue. Several articles I read including UMass Extension said it is not cold tolerant for my zone 6a. You are in the same zone, I assume.
Just about, and I’ve never lost a Ranier at any site I’ve grown it in the last 25 years, even test winters that got to -20F. Crack resistance is a lie, either you get good weather for ripening cherries or you don’t, from my experience. For home growers and cherries, the important thing seems to be to have a nice wide open site with dawn to dusk sun and full exposure to breezes. I don’t have that on my property, so cherries aren’t real consistent.
It’s hard to believe that they are better than some of the ones I had from the store recently- they were at the peak of what I’ve had, both the red and yellow ones. I tested the brix on one of the red ones and it was 23 brix, as well as firm/crisp, with some acid balance. I have trouble stopping myself at a pound or more…The very few I had from my trees (Black and white gold, I think) weren’t anywhere close to as good, nor were any of the ones from the farmer’s market. But, even if I could manage to grow them, I’d be hesitant to because of birds. I’ve always avoided nets, especially ones for big trees. I’m willing to consider nets for bushes, but never got around to it for my blueberries this year, even though there were (past tense…) quite a few on the bushes.
The ones from the store are refrigerated and that’s usually the way I eat store bought cherries. During the growing season, all the fruit I eat is warm, mostly directly picked from the tree. My comparisons are biased- I don’t like eating any fruit not from my trees either from my own orchard or the orchards I manage.
My son is exceptionally intelligent, and I’d feel that way even if tests didn’t confirm it. 