Crown Jewels expecting earlier SJV season
Crown Jewels expecting earlier SJV season
Looking at another early start to the San Joaquin Valley grape season, Atomic Torosian, partner in Crown Jewels Produce LLC in Fresno, CA, said Flames will likely start June 16-20, with Superior Sugraones coming of the southern part of the valley June 26.
“That’s the talk right now,” Torosian said in late May.
Crown Jewels partners Rob Mathias and Atomic Torosian.Crown Jewels, which started in 1989 and has grower deals not only in the San Joaquin Valley but also in Arizona, Peru, Chile, Spain and Mexico, deals in multiple commodities. California grapes represent approximately 1.5 million boxes of the company’s volume, and Torosian said this year’s overall crop “by all indications might be the same size or a little larger than last year.”
He noted some pull-outs on certain varieties, including the Princess, Thompson and Superior, are offset by plantings of new varieties.
“We also have some new proprietary varieties that look like winners,” he said. “The Ivory, Melanie and Timpson are on the radar in Mexico.”
As new varieties come onto the scene, packs are also changing.
“The tendency at retail now is for the clear bag with the PLU and GTIN visible,” Torosian said. “Consumers can see the grapes rather than the graphics. We’re also doing some clamshells, and we do small bunches for institutional foodservice.”
All grapes are field-packed, and he said food-safety protocol is in place.