Simonian Fruit Co. in Fowler, CA, which grows, packs and ships an assortment of California tree fruit and grapes, will start off the grape season with some specialty grapes, according to Jeff Simonian, vice president of sales.

“We will have the red Champagne grapes” beginning the week following the Fourth of July, Simonian told The Produce News. Those will be followed a week later with some green Champagne grapes. “That is the front part of our grape deal.”

Simonian Fruit has other grape varieties through the season as well, but the Champagnes are an important part of the program, and availability continues into September, thanks to a succession of varieties.

A clamshell of ‘Simco’ brand red champagne grapes from Simonian Fruit Co. (Photo courtesy of Simonian Fruit Co.)Champagne grapes are sweet, tiny and tender and seedless, with typically edible stems. They are named Champagne grapes not because they are used to make champagne, but because one of the more traditional uses for the fruit is decorating champagne glasses with clusters of the diminutive grapes.

The Champagne grape program “started small” at Simonian Fruit, but “they seem to be growing more every year,” Simonian said. Typically, they are in demand by certain ethnic groups such as Asians or Middle Easterners in various major markets such as Vancouver, Los Angeles or New York City. However, customers servicing mainstream consumers take them as well, he said.

The Champagnes are packaged mainly either in clamshells or in a bulk or loose pack, Simonian said. “We pack in a one-pound and a two-pound clam, and then we do a 20-pound loose.” Currently, the Champagne grapes are not being packed in bags, although “if someone wanted them in a bag, we could put them in a bag,” he added.

Cultural practices for Champagne grapes are not a great deal different from regular seedless grapes, according to Simonian.

“Actually, there are less cultural practices” than for most grape varieties. There is no need, for example, to girdle the vines, as is the practice with some table grape varieties.

In addition to Champagne grapes, Simonian Fruit offers several traditional grape varieties.

“We will harvest our Thompsons” through about the end of August, Simonian said. “Crimsons we will harvest pretty much all of September” and possibly much longer. Last year, they went “up until Thanksgiving. It depends on how they color and how they come off.” He expected to continue shipping through November and “maybe into December.”

Through spring and into early summer, Simonian Fruit has been packing stone fruit, Simonian said. “It has been keeping us busy.” But now “the grapes are right here on the horizon.”

In the fall, the company also has “a big pomegranate deal,” he said. “Our busiest months are August, September and October, so the big push is coming.”