The 2014 California fresh grape harvest started early for most growers, but as the season rolls along, some are seeing the later varieties also trending ahead of schedule, while others are seeing the later varieties showing closer to normal timing.

“We are moving right along, that’s for sure,” said Louie Galvan, a partner at Fruit Royale Inc. in Delano, CA, Aug. 5. Until just a week earlier, when some extremely hot weather slowed the vines down a little, “we were going through the varieties quickly — anywhere from 10 to 14 days ahead of schedule” and in some cases much more than that.

Never before, for example, has Fruit Royale packed Scarlet Royals in July, and this year “we started in July,” Galvan said. “That is typically a variety we don’t touch until the end of August,” meaning it was about a month early.

“It looks like if this continues it will be an early wrap-up for us, just judging by how far in advance we are” compared to normal timing, he said. “I don’t know what we are going to do in November. There may not be a whole lot left” by month’s end.

Fruit Royale has commitments through that period.. “We have customers” who have been told “we are going to be in play here at least through the end of November. That could prove to be a bit of a challenge,” Galvan said. “It looks like one of those years where, come Thanksgiving, it [will be] a done deal.”

Business has been good so far, particularly in the export markets, Galvan said. The earliness of the season has not caused a build-up in inventories.

Along with the earliness, most varieties have been characterized by smaller than usual berry size, although that condition has been more pronounced in some varieties than in others.

“The Flame sizing was off, but condition was good,” Galvan said. “I’d rather deal with a sizing issue than a condition issue any day. We are having the same situation with the Red Globes, with sizing “definitely off by a 16th” of an inch or more.

Summer Royals, on the other hand, “sized better than the Flames did.” With those, “we didn’t have an issue with size. They seemed to do all right.”

Scarlet Royals have also “given us pretty decent sizing,” he said. But “Princess is probably off at least a 16th” and Thompsons and Red Globes were both “struggling for sizing.”

Fortunately, the later varieties seem to be sizing quite well, Galvan said. “What we are seeing on these late varieties, if everything keeps going the way it is, we’ll have some pretty decent sizing on Autumn Kings and Crimsons.

The Crimsons were looking to start early, with the first pick by mid-August, he said. On Autumn Kings, “I hope we are at least three or four weeks away …. but I could be optimistic. We are supposed to start autumn varieties in autumn.”

Fruit Royale expects “some conservative growth” of perhaps 10 to 15 percent in volume for the year.

“We have a little growth in the Sweet Scarlet, a mid-season variety,” Galvan said. For the late season, “we have some growth in the Autumn Kings and the Autumn Royals.” Crimson volume should remain about the same as last year. “Those three are the ones that we are planning on taking us through the fall deal.”