Jasmine Vineyards Inc. in Delano, CA, had its first commercial production of proprietary Sweet Celebration grapes last year. This year, the company will have increased production of Sweet Celebration, according to Jon Zaninovich, president of the company.

Sweet Celebration is a patented variety developed by International Fruit Genetics in Bakersfield, CA, of which Jasmine is a licensee.

Brian Crettol, a salesman at Jasmine vineyards, in a previous interview with The Produce News, described Sweet Celebration as “a mid-to-late-season red seedless variety” with very large berries, “kind of like a seedless Red Globe.” It has “great color and excellent eating quality,” he said.

Jon ZaninovichIn addition to the increase in Sweet Celebration, “we should have more Scarlet Royals this year,” Zaninovich said July 15. Otherwise, the company’s variety mix is about the same as last year, including such varieties as Flames, Summer Royals, Princess, Crimsons, Red Globes, Autumn Royals and Autumn Kings.

Columbine also has some new varieties under development but not yet in commercial production. Some “that we are testing we will probably start planting next year,” he said.

Some of them are late season varieties, as are most of the newer varieties introduced by the California grape industry in the last few years. But some are also earlier, he said.

As for the 2013 grape harvest in the San Joaquin Valley, Jasmine “started last week packing some Flames, and we’ve got some Summer Royals and some Princess going,” Zaninovich said. For the company, the timing is “a little on the early side” but not by much. “It is somewhat of a normal start.”

So far, the crop “looks clean” and looks to have “very nice quality,” he said. It also appears to be large crop, but “usually, if it is a good quality crop, it will sell well.”

Sales at Columbine are handled by Zaninovich and Crettol.

“We do a lot of export here, so we are looking forward to our programs in Australia, New Zealand and China,” Zaninovich said.

Columbine will be “using more of the pouch style bags this year,” not just domestically but in export markets, “due to some interest from some retailers around the world,” he said. “It seems like everything is going into pouch bags,” not just gape but other produce commodities as well.”

To accommodate Columbine’s increasing table grape production, the company has recently completed some facility expansions. “We’ve added onto our cold storage again,” adding a pre-cooler and increasing storage space, Zaninovich said.