Columbine has Holiday red seedless late Sept. through Thanksgiving
Columbine has Holiday red seedless late Sept. through Thanksgiving
“The end of September, we will start packing our famous ‘Holiday Seedless,’ “ said Anthony Stetson, sales manager at Columbine Vineyards in Delano, CA.
“Holiday Seedless” is a registered trademark for a patented late-season red grape variety exclusive to Columbine.
“This year’s crop looks very nice,” Stetson said Aug. 7. “It’s got good size and good bunch conformation, and volume looks to be excellent.”
So far this year, “we have had pretty good heat down here, so maturity has been good,” he said. The grapes are “maybe four to five days on the early side, and even on red grapes I think it is earlier because there is a lot of color this year. We haven’t struggled on any variety for color this year. So we are looking for a good early start on the Holidays, and we will have them all the way through Thanksgiving.”
In addition to the Holiday, “we have a full complement of varieties” for the late season, Stetson said. Among them are Scarlet Royal, Crimson, Thompson, Autumn King, Red Globe and Autumn Royal.
All of those varieties have some “similar characteristics this year” in that they are all “a little bit early” with good size, good volume and, for the colored grapes, good color. ‘“Yields up to now have been very good,” Stetson said.
The company is packing all three colors of grapes this season in stand-up bags. “That has, I think, been a help, especially in the early part of the season, getting the retailers behind promotions,” he said. It has also helped stimulate repeat sales as consumers return to buy again “because they like the product as well as the packaging.”
Looking ahead to the fall grape season, Stetson said, the most important thing for retailers to be aware of is that there will be “good availability and the quality appears to be very good.” With the quality of the fruit, combined with the addition of “our new packaging,” movement should be good throughout the balance of the year. “We are looking forward to the [fall] season,” he said.
