Strong quality, heavy demand and brisk movement have characterised the 2013 California table grape season to date. That combination of positives could prove fortuitous for the state’s industry, as forecasts continue to predict the largest crop in California history at nearly 106m cartons (8.6kg).
“Shipments are at least three weeks ahead of last year’s pace at this point,” said Michael Little of Vincent B. Zaninovich & Sons (Delano) in mid-October. “If this kind of movement continues, the industry should finish shipping before Christmas.”
“The (table grape) deal has gone very smoothly so far and movement has been good from day one,” agreed Brian Crettol of Jasmine Vineyards. “And you really can’t complain about the quality so far, as everyone seems to have good fruit. Some are saying that the industry could ship 110m cartons this year; I don’t know about that, but fruit quality has been so consistent we’re getting a lot more fruit in the box this season.”
However, steady heat throughout the summer months reportedly resulted in some quality problems for certain varieties.
“The heat we had at the end of June and the first week of July hurt a lot of the early fruit out of the Arvin area (south of Bakersfield) and it caused some problem arrivals here and there,” said Nick Dulcich of Sunlight International Sales. “It’s been warm all summer, so we’re seeing some colouring issues with Crimson Seedless as well as in Red Globes. However, the Scarlet Royals are bullet-hard and have amazing colour this year.”
Acreage planted to new varieties of table grapes is steadily changing the California industry. The strong colouring characteristics of the Scarlet Royal are helping it displace the mid-season slot for red grapes traditionally held by Crimson Seedless.
Thompson Seedless, which put California on the map as a table grape-producing region, is getting relegated to its natural late-summer window, primarily due to market acceptance of the Autumn King variety. Maturing by mid-October, the Autumn King has so far proven to be a sweet, crisp-textured white grape with strong shipping characteristics, which has been well accepted in Asian markets.
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