Growers seek the perfect grape

The search never ends for California growers as they seek bigger, crunchier and more flavorful table grapes.

Every year growers plant new varieties, often replacing older offerings that have outlived their appeal.

Delano, Calif.-based Columbine Vineyards, for example, has added the Krissy variety, an early-season red grape that has proven to be well accepted, said Keith Andrew, sales manager.

The company will continue to offer several other varieties, including its proprietary Milano — a large, green mid-season grape — and its popular Holiday variety that Andrew describes as “very large and bursting with flavor.”

In years past, green grapes were preferred 3-to-1 over red ones, Andrew said. But eventually that ratio reversed, with consumers showing a preference for red varieties.

Now, with more high-quality green grapes coming into the market, the greens are closing the gap, he said.

Bari Produce LLC, Madera, Calif., will offer the Ivory variety, an early green grape also known as Sheegene-21, for the first time this year, said president Justin Bedwell.

It will start July 10 and has “nice big bunches and a good finish,” he said.

The company is phasing out some older red varieties and replacing them with varieties like Krissy, which Bedwell said has performed well in trials.

“We’ll see how it comes in production,” he said.

This also is the firm’s first year with the red Magenta seedless, known for its sweet flavor and extra-large size, he said. It comes on in early September.

Production of the autumn king variety contains to increase at Bari produce.

“For late-season, green seedless, we haven’t found anything better than that,” Bedwell said.

It’s also a popular export grape.

“It’s nice when you get a variety that is well-received on the international side and the domestic side,” he said. Sweet scarlets, with their “unique flavor and bright color” have been an outstanding variety for Top Brass Marketing Inc., Bakersfield, Calif., said president Brett Dixon.

“We will see more acreage come off this season as a result of the demand exceeding our supplies in recent years,” he said.

Other varieties the company offers include sugraone, Ivory, princess, thompson, Luisco, sweet globe, autumn king, flame, scarlet royal, Timco, sweet scarlet, Allison, summer royals, autumn royals and red globe.

As a licensee of Sun World International LLC, Bakersfield, Delano-based Jakov P. Dulcich & Sons offers Autumn Crisp, Adora Seedless and Midnight Beauty, said Nick Dulcich, owner and director of sales.

In 2018, the company will add the late-season Scarlotta Seedless, he said.

The company added Sun World’s varieties to fill gaps in its program, Dulcich said.

Delano-based Pandol Bros. Inc. will continue to roll out its early green Sugar Crunch variety, said John Pandol, special projects director. It will be available in early August.

The company ships about 20 varieties commercially and always has 20-30 varieties in trials, Pandol said.

The perfect grape

Growers constantly are looking for the perfect grape.

“It all starts with taste,” Bedwell said.

But the fruit also must be marketable and have good production value.

“With costs going up, you’ve got to get enough packages off the vine,” he said.

Columbine Vineyards is working on seven varieties that could show up down the road, Andrew said.

In all, it can take 10-15 years to perfect a commercial table grape variety, he said.

Consistency, size, quality, color, taste and shelf life are the qualities Top Brass seeks, Dixon said. 

As labor and production costs rise in California, cost effectiveness has become an important factor to consider when deciding which grapes to plant, Dulcich said.

“The (fewer) things you have to do, the less money you have to spend,” he said.

Consumers tend to look for size, texture and flavor, but sometimes they have a misconception when it comes to choosing flavorful grapes, Pandol said.

“A perlette with a bit of amber is probably the best-eating grape,” he said.

Yet consumers perceive an amber tinge in a negative way.

“A wonderful (green) variety with an amber hue is dead on arrival (at retail),” he said.