Newer, bigger and better varieties that have extended the California grape season are key to its success, according to many different members of the industry recently interviewed by The Produce News.

“Autumn King, which is a good green seedless; Scarlet Royal, which is a good red seedless; and Autumn Royal, which is a black grape, are later in the deal and really help us out,” said Jon Zaninovich, vice president of Jasmine Vineyards in Delano, CA.

Shipper after shipper noted that these relatively new varieties, as well as several others, have taken over from the industry standards of a decade ago and created a better deal with more grapes, bigger berries, and lower costs.  “We still have 60 acres of Thompson and my cousin (Jasmine’s field boss) wants to get rid of them.  They take so much work to make a crop.  The newer grapes require less labor by far,” said Zaninovich.  “I don’t know if Thompsons will completely go away but there aren’t many left.”

The same trend is occurring with other standbys such as the Flame Seedless.  Atomic Torosian of Crown Jewels in Fresno, CA, said his company has a good mix of older varieties and newer varieties to give their customers choice, but noted that they newer varieties are gaining popularity with both growers and buyers.  He lamented the fact that new varieties don’t have the staying power of older ones as change is constant.  But he admitted the newer varieties have their advantages, including extending the season.  

For the past several years, the silver lining of the California drought has been very minimal fall precipitation that has allowed for harvesting fresh grapes well into December.  Torosian said the El Niño that is being predicted for this fall could bring early rains and affect volume on the end of the deal.  But he said as the El Niño prediction becomes more of a reality, growers will cover their fall production in the field, pick early and ship from storage.  He said a grape can last three to four weeks in storage so he doesn't anticipate a huge problem unless the rains are torrential and very early.

Nick Dulcich of Sunlight International Sales Inc. in Delano, CA, said the big difference in varietal development is that there are now many varieties on the market throughout the season.  A generation ago a handful of varieties dominated.  “Today, we grow and market about 20 varieties,” he said.  

Like many California crops this year, a mild winter and warm spring has led to an earlier-than-usual start to the season.  John Pandol of Pandol Bros. Inc. in Delano said in early July that his firm started shipping California grapes on June 22, which is about as early as they have ever done.  But he noted that movement was robust and the market was pretty good.  He said the longer marketing window should be good for the industry and help demand stay strong throughout the summer and into the fall.

Like others, Pandol said there should be promotable volume throughout August, September and October.  However, he believes the El Nino will affect the late volume and could cut the crop short come late November into December.  He said the lack of rain is not going to last forever and this could be the year that rain affects the deal negatively.  Of course, there will be a silver lining for that as well.  There won’t be too many unhappy growers if California is hit with a lot of fall rain.