Divine Flavor transitions grape program from South America to Mexico

April 16, 2025

As the final days of April approach, the last shipments of South American table grapes will hit the U.S., and for grower-shipper Divine Flavor, the company will shift its attention from Chile to its principal growing regions of Jalisco and Sonora, Mexico.

In recent years, April through May has emerged as a pivotal window for Divine Flavor, with its Jalisco operation kicking off right as the Chilean season concludes with its final shipments. A consistent supply of fresh, high-quality premium varieties — like Autumncrisp, Cotton Candy and Sweet Globe (all proprietary green seedless grapes) — has played a vital role in supporting a seamless transition for their North American retail partners.

sdf “Grapes from Jalisco, Mexico, give us more flexibility as we finish the South American import deal and before transitioning to the bulk of Mexico’s traditional grape season in Sonora,” said Alán Aguirre Jr., chief marketing officer who established the global Divine Flavor brand and its marketing department that handles B2B/B2C efforts for the company.

“In Chile, we have tremendous alliances there, and one grower in particular, Santa Elena, who helped us on starting our South American relations, finish their season with great quality Autumncrisp,” said Aguirre. “For us, we tend to be very cautious with only bringing in the best premium varieties, which of course highly complement our Jalisco program in Mexico.”

He mentioned that historically and in previous years, red seedless used to exceed green seedless demand, but slowly throughout the years that has shifted to a point that in most cases greens now double the demand of reds. Part of this is due to the popularity of the Autumncrisp variety, as well as Sweet Globe and Cotton Candy, among others.

Earlier in April, the Mexico Table Grapes Association (AALPUM) held its annual grape summit, where the committee announced around 23 million boxes for 2025 (about a 1.3 percent increase from 2024). It was reported that Sonora could see a delay on early-season varieties to start the season, but with volumes picking up in June.

“For the early varieties, the Sonoran grape season will see some delays on reds and a smaller crop of Flames than from previous years,” said Aguirre. “However, once we approach the mid-season part of the harvest, reds will bounce back with better volume, and we’ll have plenty to promote in June. From 2024 to 2025, we are expected to have around an 18 percent increase from our Sonora program, especially on proprietary varieties.”

Aguirre also noted that Divine Flavor’s marketing department has built consistency with a unique and personal approach through its grower summits, and its Better Grower Program. These Divine Flavor marketing initiatives have played a key role in expanding their network of growing partners in recent years and the availability of proprietary table grape varieties.

This growth has enabled Divine Flavor to collaborate with experienced growers across the Sonoran region of Mexico (as well as South America) who share the same vision and commitment to quality as their parent company, Grupo Alta.

“Divine Flavor developed our grower summits and Better Grower Program as a blueprint for our grower alliances to use and follow to develop into better growers,” said Aguirre. “Our grower network, not only in Mexico, but throughout other key grape growing regions, including California and the rest of the world, has expanded and these grape partners share the same vision we have, and they have licensed access to the same varieties we grow giving us the opportunity to supply the best grapes year-round.”

Aguirre mentioned that the Divine Flavor grower summits are a way to bring together the best growers from around the world who align with Divine Flavor to supply its customers, not only with flavorful proprietary grapes, but also hot-house vegetables, always meeting the highest standards of agriculture and industry requirements.

In 2019, Aguirre and his team held Divine Flavor’s first-ever grower summit, uniting veg growers and grape invitees in Culiacán, Mexico. Thanks to these efforts, Divine Flavor’s veg partners are also transitioning in hot-house tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers from west Mexico to central Mexico states like Querétaro and Guanajuato.

“Our parent company, Grupo Alta, has more than 30 years of experience, being one the first companies to be fair trade certified, organically certified and has emerged as one of the largest grape growers in the world,” said Aguirre. “We grow and operate under a six-pillar philosophy dedicated to excellent quality/flavor products, food safety, social responsibility, traceability, organics and sustainability. Our motto ‘Growing Better Food for a Better World’ is to produce the same fruits and vegetables we would feed our own families with, and thanks to our grower summits, our roots have expanded outside of Grupo Alta with other first-class growers throughout Mexico, as well as South America with our grape partners there.”

Divine Flavor is expected to finish with its last grape shipments from Chile around the end of April (with inventories going into the first weeks of May). The Jalisco grape program is currently midway through its harvest and will go until the end of May. The company will start its Sonoran grape program with the first organic grapes from Mexico around the middle of May, which will go into the end of July.

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