Anthony Vineyards Inc. in Bakersfield, CA, will have volume increases in several grape varieties in the San Joaquin Valley this year. Most of those varieties are mid-season and late-season varieties; however, “we have an increase in Flame acreage that will be affecting us in July,” said John Harley, vice president of sales and marketing.

Anthony Vineyards has spring grapes in California’s Coachella Valley as well, and Harley was in Coachella selling the spring deal when The Produce News talked to him May 28. “We are a little bit more than half way through the Coachella deal,” he said. “It looks like it is going to dovetail pretty good into the San Joaquin. We will finish a little earlier down here than normal, and I think it is going to be an earlier start up there.”

The growers project that “we may start around June 23 in the Arvin area” with Flames, “and we should finish down here sometime the week of the 16th,” Harley said.

Sugraones will probably start in the Arvin area, for Anthony vineyards, three or four days later than the Flames, he said, although that date “actually can move up a little bit if necessary for us.”

Among the varieties in which Anthony vineyards will have increases this year will be Scarlet Royal. “We have new acreage that will come into play this year,” he said. Also, “we will see increases in Luisco and Autumn King and Princess, as far as the green varieties are concerned.”

In reds, “we have a little bit of increase in Crimsons which is, for us, an early August variety as well as Scarlet Royals and Sweet Scarlets which will come in August,” he said. “A good percentage of that is grown organically.”

The company’s organic grape program is also expanding in the San Joaquin Valley in all varieties, he said.

This will be Anthony Vineyards’ first year of commercial production for a proprietary elongated red seedless variety called Gemma Rose. That variety comes on the latter part of September and continues through October.

Quality of the grapes so far this season looks “really good,” Harley said. In traveling through the San Joaquin Valley, he has observed that the vines, “not only ours but everybody’s,” look very good. “We are looking forward to a pretty nice San Joaquin Valley deal, barring any weather issues.”

Labor availability this year will be a bit or a concern, as it has been in the Coachella Valley, he said. However, Anthony vineyards has an advantage in that regard in that the company uses many of the same workers in the San Joaquin Valley that it does during the Coachella season.

Water is also a concern, but the company should be all right for this year, Harley said. “We had one particular ranch that was affected by the water shortage,” but “we made some adjustments” and were able to transfer water from another ranch. “We have a lot of wells, which helps.” But if the drought continues, “we could have an issue in 2015,” he said.

“It is a challenging industry,” Harley said. “It is sure fun when it works,” but “it is not getting any easier.”