Chuck Olsen Co. expects increases in Sweet Scarlet, Scarlet Royal, Autumn King
Chuck Olsen Co. expects increases in Sweet Scarlet, Scarlet Royal, Autumn King
The Chuck Olsen Co. in Visalia, CA, expects production increases in two newer red seedless grape varieties for the 2014 season, as young plantings come into fuller production, according to Jeff Olsen, vice president of the company.
Sweet Scarlets will increase about 25 percent for the company, he said July 8. “This is their fourth leaf. We actually had them last year, but bunch size was so small we basically snack-packed all of them.”
The company will also enjoy production increases in Scarlet Royal this year, Olsen said.
In the green seedless category, The Chuck Olsen Co. has some young Autumn King vineyards just coming into production.
“This will be the first crop on them,” Olsen said. In addition, “we just put another 60 acres in.” They will be producing “another three years out.”
So far, “it looks like a good quality year and a good volume year,” although early season production was lighter than expected in spite of an early start, Olsen said July 8. The transition from the Mexico and Coachella grape deals into the San Joaquin Valley of California went nicely, he said. “Movement was good” for the spring deals out of Mexico and Coachella, “so things moved out of the way” and there was “very little holdover.”
As of late July, as the San Joaquin Valley grape deal begins to transition from early-season to mid-season varieties, The Chuck Olsen Co. expected to be still shipping Flames along with Princess and Summer Royals, and “probably a few Thompsons” by that time, followed by some Sweet Scarlet, Olsen said.
By mid-August, he expected to start Crimsons, with Autumn Royals starting around the third week of August “and Scarlet Royals after that,” then Autumn Kings and Red Globes, he said.
“We are later than most anybody on Red Globes,” he said. “We really don’t start until at least the first week of September, sometimes later.”
Fruit quality has been good, and markets have been good so far this year, Olsen said. “Flame movement so far has been very good, very active. Hopefully markets continue to stay that way.”
Production costs have gone up for everybody, he said. Labor costs, specifically, have increased by “probably 30 percent” this year. But “as long as quality stays good and retailers are promoting as they have been, hopefully we can get through the crop in decent numbers and see decent prices and keep everybody happy.”
