ok, please help me differentiate these two beauties.

   

From my reading.
Sultane has breba crop, and Ronde is a early main,
Hope this helps

Luke ist right about the crop.
Here's a summary of what Mr Baud writes about the two varieties:
Sultane has been cultivated in the Provence region of France for a long time and is also called 'Grosse de Juillet', 'Noire de Juillet' or 'Bellone bifère'. The first crop is early, in July (hence the name), the figs are nearly black, red inside.
The main crop is from about mid-August to October, with smaller figs of about 1,7 ounces.
Its growth is vigorous and bushy, it produces side branches very easily. The terminal buds are dark red, very characteristic.
Its taste is good, but I think, Ronde de Bordeaux is said to taste even better.
Ronde de Bordeaux ressembles Sultane as far as its vigorous growth and side branches are concerned. The main crop starts early
in August.
Both varieties are fairly hardy. Ronde de Bordeaux is perhaps better for colder climates, because its one and only crop is
on the new branches, therefore it doesn't really matter if there is any frost damage on last year's growth. (After a mild winter there can
be a tiny amount of breba fruit, but not really interesting for its quantity.)
Hope this helps, too.
Lilli

Hi Aroon4usa,
On my first sultane the figs where more long than wide, not so round as in the photo.
I would say that that photo of sultane is not true to type . This is the reason why they seem so close from those photos.
My tree passed away in February 2012 - she was in ground with a light protection and even the roots go screwed !

I haven't tried "Ronde de Bordeaux" - perhaps next year . This year I'm trying to grow "Rouge de Bordeaux" which is supposed to be smaller.

For those who have Sultane, how do the 2 crops compare?

Hi James,
Because of winter die-back, I still don't know.
I bought a new sultane, because the taste if the few maincrops, I tried, were amazing. For now there is a breba hanging on the new tree - not sure I'll see it go ripe ... But who knows !?!

Hi Aaron.  I can't help you differentiate these two varieties.  But I got a laugh from your thread title.  I was curious about what "Sultane V's" might represent, and why was it juxtaposed with "Ronde De Bordeaux"?  Maybe it represented someone named Sultane V, who has a particularly interesting Ronde De Bordeaux tree?  And who knows (I thought), maybe Sultane V would turn out to be a cousin of Anne V, and there'd be photos.  So I clicked your thread to see.  That's when I figured out that you meant "versus"  (often abbreviated "vs.").  It was good for a laugh.  Many thanks.

Mike

Ronde de Bordeaux tastes great. My Sultane is tiny and hasn't produced any fruit yet. Maybe next year.

Sultane is good fig, ours from raintree had heavy FMV so it was discarded but took sucker and it grew some
late last season not sure if it made it thru dormancy.
Makes a beautiful fig when ripe.

Ronde is better but thats on my palate and others palates may think different.

Sultane did not appear to me as a hardy fig. It was one of the fig casualties upon arrival from the nursery. I never saw the leaves.
I was promised a replacement but it was not available this year.
If Ronde de Bordeaux tastes just as good then I'm not too worried about it. Unfortunately I never sampled any of them yet. 
I'm also wondering now as to how Sultane compares to Violet de Bordeaux.

Mike, i gotto admit, you have an overactive mind, LOL

for whatever season, never looked into Sultane. but since martin said RdB is better to his palette, i have no reason what so ever to look for one now.

well, when I examined the Sultane tree from Persia from 1980's... closely I didn't see any Red Termnal Branches on it at all... does this mean it's another variation or NOT a Sultane that has been grown in France all these years? It has Breba but most fall and only 10-15% remains to grow...

Here's a Pictorial Timeline for the Sultani Mother tree. Edit:NOT Sultane, "SULTANI"

     

Aaron4USA,
I guess it isn't Sultane, but if I were you, I wouldn't bother too much about names - that tree is just so beautiful!
(Sultane is said to be from Tunisia originally).

Aaron, that does not look like Sultane.

SaS - On my palate VdB is better than Sultane others may differ.

VdB as iv'e said in past along with a few others is very under rated due to it being
easliy obtained now a days.

I appreciate your input Martin. If that's the case, then I guess I'm not missing much.

I stopped replacing the ones I lost for now, unless it's a must have as I have more varieties than I expected awaiting evaluation.

Most of my figs are about one year old and many have not yielded any fruit yet.

my very first fig i've grown myself was VdB. previously, i only had supermarket BT. that yr, the weather was perfect for the figs. VdB when weather cooperates... is one beck of a fig. i still remember thinking if it was possible for anything to taste that good. sweet, jammy, just right amound of acid.. knock out berry taste... just dreamy.

Sas your welcome
but
one must taste figs for themselves as we all are differnt i just mention what i personally think about some types
like the paleface figs for example. rofl

Martin, those brebas are reddish because they are to fall, the remaining strong ones are still green, I'm going to take more pics and at the main crop also more pics then... I have eaten the fruit of this tree last July all the way through November...It's right behind my Med School, so, I can keep a close eye on it. The main crop looks just like the ones in above pictures from France. The owner called it Sultani (just the way he pronounced it) meaning Worthy for a King or a Sultan in their case. So...I still don't know if it's a Sultane of France or just another fig with a name Sultani. Either way I really liked the taste of it, they were very sweet and juicy, but not of a consistency of VdB or even Vista which , in LA, becomes nice and chewy super sweet due to over ripening.

My mistake i just took a glace and not realized i was looking at breba and not main
as main does not look elongated like that.

@Martin, so..  what you think? is there a chance it is a true Sultane? or shell we need to see main crop inside out to make sure?

@Lilli, thanks for the input.. at least we established that Ronde De Bordeaux had NO breba? where the Sultane has breba.

this mother tree had brebas on it that loses about 80% of them... the rest become about 20% larger than the main crop.

Salam

just to share my sultane at home if it could help a little .

Tks
zaitun

 

 

 
 
 

Hi Sas,
You should consider the ripening time as well. If Sultane ripens at another time than vdb, Sultane could still be worth it - as to me those figs where small but really tasty.
Nevertheless, I have a Sultane in the garden, and I hope to have figs from her this year - the more the better :)