HERMOSILLIO, SONORA, MEXICO — "For 30 years, grapes have grown cheaper, not sweeter," notes Mexican grape grower, packer, shipper and exporter, Carlos Bon, a partner in Grupo Alta, based here, and its marketing arm, Divine Flavor LLC.

In recent years, the highest-growth commodities in the fruit category have been easy-peel clementines and the berry category. Bon observed that these progressive fruit categories "are taking sales from fresh grapes." Wil Lemmer, head of research and development for Grupo Alta, and Carlos Bon, a partner in the firm.Strawberry, blueberry and raspberry varieties "get better every year. Meanwhile, grapes have lost momentum with buyers. "What we are focused on is taking that back."

The goal of Grupo Alta and Divine Flavor is to "differentiate ourselves by doing things that are completely different" than the norm in the grape business. This includes not only having different grape varieties but also being an industry leader surpassing global requirements in food safety, Fair Trade and organic certifications.

Divine Flavor partner Pedro Batiz said Grupo Alta's consideration of employees for at least nine years has been a feature of company philosophy. But it was two years ago that the firm was officially certified to the world standard, which is the toughest mark for Fair Trade products.

Grupo Alta's social programs are designed to build workers' self-esteem and encourage them to develop different skill sets in their lives. A young woman field packs grapes in the Hermosillo vineyard of Grupo Alta.Batiz said the program "takes a lot of money and time, but everyone on the whole team works to make people better every day."

At several Mexican locations, the company operates high-tech greenhouses for tomatoes and peppers.

Grupo Alta, which has developed grape export markets in 30 countries, produces table grapes in the Mexican growing districts of Hermosillo, Caborca and, very soon, Guaymas. The Hermosillo ranch is the largest, with 617 hectares, or about 1,500 acres.

Grupo Alta is the Mexican member of the Volcani Institute, which is a grape-breeding club. With Volcani, "we pay to breed new varieties," Bon said.

As these are tested and sent to market, Volcani members will have exclusive rights in their respective countries. Beyond Mexico, there are Volcani members in California, South Africa, Chile, Israel and Europe. Affiliated growers in different parts of the world compare notes on initial commercial testing.

Results for a variety differ not only from country to country but sometimes within a vineyard. Beyond this medical clinic, Grupo Alta offers a wide-ranging health and social services to its 2,700 employees. The company gives a health check to every employee upon their arrival. No alcohol is allowed on the secure compound. Social workers interview workers to assure that none is under age 18 and that the work is appropriate for older workers. Few of these workers have visited a dentist prior to meeting the staff dentist on the Hermosillo ranch of Grupo Alta. While Fundacion Alta has a long tradition of treating workers with great respect, the firm received a global certification from Fair Trade two years ago. The company grows such a large volume of produce that very substantial amounts of money go back to benefit the workers under Fair Trade rules.Accordingly, Grupo Alta will test certain varieties in different parts of its own vineyards.

Grupo Alta also works with new grape varieties coming from International Fruit Genetics, which is based in Bakersfield, CA.

Heading the Grupo Alta varietal research and development staff is Wil Lemmer, a native of South Africa. Every year, Grupo Alta grafts promising varietal cuttings on the best rootstocks. Those that offer the greatest chance for taste, berry size and shape, bunch shape, consistency and other attributes are planted more extensively in a "second stage" the following year. Then usually comes a significant decision between commercial production or discounting a variety.

All new varieties going to commercial production are planted onto virgin land adjacent to Grupo Alta property. Starting with virgin land -- in addition to relevant cultural practices -- is an immediate qualifier for organic certification.

When The Produce News toured the Hermosillo ranch May 5, harvest of the earliest varieties was underway, and many varieties were approaching harvest.

The aptly named Strawberry Grape variety had a Brix level of 13 to 14, and would reach 18 before the harvest was to begin May 10.

A key new variety with a very special taste is the Cotton Candy grape. The first Cotton Candy grapes were shipped from California a couple of years ago. In the Hermosillo packing plant and cooling facility of Grupo Alta, grape flats are weighed and clamshells are checked to assure that all quality requirements have been met. Bon said Grupo Alta will plant 275 acres of Cotton Candy this winter and by January 2015 it expects to be the world's largest grower of the variety, which tastes very much like sweet cotton candy.

Bon said sweet and distinctive varieties like Cotton Candy "will get sales back for grapes" with children.

The oncoming Cotton Candy production from Divine Flavor will be on the market about June 5 this season.

An up-and-coming cherry red table grape is the Sweet Celebration. By trademark laws, "we can't call it a Sweet Celebration unless it's 20 Brix," Bon said. "Retailers want it instead of Flames, but it's a limited volume" to date.

The Sweet Celebration has "a combination of very high acidity and very high sugar, which gives a lot of taste," Bon said.

This season, the bunch size on Sweet Celebration is small, "but the crop was early. There were not enough chill hours" to produce enough bunches to allow selection that ordinarily would come through bunch pruning early in the growing season.

Through the Volcani Institute, Grupo Alta holds the Mexican master license to Prime, a very sweet green grape variety. Divine Flavor markets the Prime as the Early Divine variety and will market 300,000 boxes this spring, Bon said.

Buyer demand is to replace Perlettes with the Early Divine. U.S. Department of Agriculture marketing rules require that Prime grapes entering the United States have a Brix level of 15.5, "but we pack nothing until it's 17.5 Brix," said Bon. "We are not trying to make inspection at the border. We are trying to get consumers' kids to ask for more grapes."

The black, elongated Sweet Sapphire -- commercially known as the new Witches Finger -- is rapidly coming into production at Grupo Alta.

In addition to varietal testing, Grupo Alta is testing different materials (including different colors) to use to shade its vineyards. Currently, 125 of the 150 acres under shade are protecting the Early Divine from Hermosillo's hot sun. "The Early Divine responds well to shade," said Bon.

Plastic shade is a high-end material, while netting also works to protect vineyards and is less expensive.

"Plastic makes the plant more comfortable," Bon said, adding that it doesn't rain in Hermosillo, so that angle is a non-issue for field shade.  

Bon is the commercial manager at Grupo Alta and is involved in sales with Divine Flavor, which has offices in Nogales, AZ, and San Diego, CA. During grape season, he spends three days a work week on the Mexican grape vineyards and two days in the Nogales office, which is less than two hours to the north.

He is partners with his uncle, Divine Flavor President Alan Aguirre and industry veteran Pedro Batiz, who is Bon's second cousin. Within Grupo Alta, Batiz is vice president of sales at Divine Flavor and Aguirre is the director, president and chief executive officer of Grupo Alta.

This ranch is 20 miles north of Hermosillo, a city of 900,000. In this region "there is a huge water problem for the town, and for agriculture," Bon said.

Of all production expenses, water comes first. The Hermosillo vineyard and packinghouse draw on good water wells. Bon said the land also "costs a fair amount of money because this is the best area for grape production in Mexico."

There is also good grape land not so far west, along the Sea of Cortes, but there is so little water that "the land is almost free."