Orchards near my city

There are four orchards within an hour of my house, I am going to drive out in a couple of weeks and pick up five or ten gallons of cider to ferment in five gallon batches. I have made great caramel cider before from store bought juice, but I want something that really brings out the apples themselves instead of using a sweetener or spices to provide character.

The varieties I have to choose from are:
Arkansas Black, Cameo, Gale Gala, Granny Smith, Fuji, Ginger Gold, Golden Delicious, Golden Supreme, Honeycrisp, Liberty, Mutsu, Ozark Golden, Pink Lady, Red Delicious, Rome Beauty, Stayman, Supreme Gold, Sunshine, Winesap, Yates

My head is spinning from the variety. I know that this is the start of apple season and I probably can't get all of those varieties unless I wait. I don't know what half of those varieties taste like. How do I choose?

Here is what I know already:
-A purely sweet cider will wind up tasting like alcoholic Mott's apple juice, but with less sweetness. Mott's is water with sugar and apple flavoring.
-A tarter cider or one with more tannin will retain more of its original character, but will probably also require back sweetening.

I would really appreciate someone with a wealth of experience chiming in to give me some direction.

There are references on the web about that -

http://cideruk.com/cider_making/cider_apples

http://www.evescidery.com/our-orchard/apple-varieties/

I have read several links about what I am looking for but neither of those guides really tells me what those apples taste like. I know what some of them are like, because I have bought them from a grocery store, but I have no real way to choose between the rest other than stand in the orchard and take a bite out of each one.

OP, I will do some cider-related research on each of those types of apples for you - for $10. PayPal accepted.



BTW, standing in the orchard & taking a bite out of each one is really not a bad idea...