Rains from Hurricane Hilary caused variable damage to the fresh grape vineyards of Bari Produce LLC, says Justin Bedwell.
Bedwell, president of the Fresno, Calif.-based marketer said the company believes 25% of its fruit left to harvest was damaged enough that it will not be harvested.
“Most of that damage was from blocks in the Kern County area that got hit the hardest with rain,” he said. “Our ranches in Madera and the Westside got very little rain, so we feel lucky with them being ‘normal.’”
For Bari Produce, California grape harvest is expected to extend to the first week of November, with shipments lasting a couple of weeks more.
Prior to the storm’s landfall on Aug. 21, the quality of California grapes had been good.
“Demand in August can sometimes be so-so with consumers taking vacations, schools starting, etc., but we were keeping up [with] demand,” Bedwell said.
Grape pricing increased after the late August storm, he said.
“However, movement has continued to be good (even brisk), so I would expect pricing to continue to increase in the coming weeks,” Bedwell said. “The key is the find that price point where the grapes continue to move at retail.”
By early September, Bari Produce was just starting its harvest of Sweet Globe grapes, which were covered and protected from the rain.
“They look excellent with great size and sugars,” he said. “Red grapes will continue to be more limited [compared with] greens as the season progresses.”
Because of the rain-shortened crop, Bedwell said it may be hard to have promotable prices with strong volumes behind them.
