The importance of good taste

I'm a big fan of simple crosses, best wild x best fruit, etc.  We are playing a numbers game.

I was looking at Mortensen's paper on Blanc Du Bois. The vine is one of 19 'segregants' of a 1968 cross of 'Cardinal' and Florida's D6-148.  D6-148 was one of 95 seedlings  of selfed A4-23 (1961).  A4-23 was one of Stover's best crosses (1956). Stover was about to retire when Mortensen arrived in 1960-1961.

(I assume that segregant is a word for seedlings produced by self-polination.)

Anyway, the number are not that different from what we are doing.
Based on the paper, it seemed the 'taster', not Mortensen, was key to selecting what turned out to be Blanc Du Bois.  The fellow was in 'food sciences', not a grower.  I think the process of selection via tasting doesn't get enough attention.

I guess that I'm trying to say that simple crosses work, but you need a super taster.