BAKERSFIELD, CA — Anthony Vineyards, here, will see increases this year, and in future years, in several varieties of grapes, as young plantings come into production, according to John Harley, vice president of sales and marketing. Much of the growth will be in newer mid and late season varieties, and much of it will be from organic vineyards.

“A lot of the increases will be in our fall varieties that may start harvesting the latter part of August and run through September and into October,” Mr. Harley said. “That is where most of our growth is.”

Anthony Vineyards Farm Manager Rope Eddy (right) and Harvest Foreman Benjamin Garcia display a freshly-packed box of Sugraone grapes.Among the varieties that will see increases this year at Anthony Vineyards are Autumn King and Luisco green seedless grapes and Scarlet Royal and Sweet Scarlet grapes.

Sweet Scarlet is a variety that Mr. Harley believes has particularly excellent potential, and it is a variety in which the company has made a significant investment.

There are new plantings, he said, but this year’s increases will come largely from a “first year crop coming off of a vineyard that is three years old,” he said.

Sweet Scarlet is an “unbelievable” grape, Mr. Harley continued, “but it is challenging to grow.” Anthony Vineyards has “a lot of acreage” of Sweet Scarlet planted, “and we have invested a lot of time in trying to figure out” how to get the vines to produce larger berries, larger bunches and more consistent yields.

However, it is worth the effort because it has outstanding eating quality. “It eats like nothing I have ever eaten before,” Mr. Harley said. And many consumers who have tried it agree. The flavor and sweetness of the Sweet Scarlet have generated unprecedented consumer response. “It is the first time I have ever had consumers actually track us down and respond positively,” wanting to know the name of the variety and where they can get more.

This year, the company’s first Sweet Scarlet grapes from the San Joaquin Valley are expected to come off around Aug. 1 and continue, “with the amount of acreage we have, probably through the month of August,” Mr. Harley said. “And a lot of that is organic.”

Anthony Vineyards, which also has grape production in the Coachella Valley, started harvesting and packing its first grapes from the San Joaquin Valley this year out of the Arvin district around June 27. That is nearly two weeks earlier than last year.

“It was a good transition out of Coachella to Bakersfield — for us, anyway. We cleaned up [on Flame seedless] down there, and the next day started up here,” Mr. Harley told The Produce News July 11.

In the company’s vineyards adjacent to its cold storage facility southeast of Bakersfield, the Flame harvest was in full swing and the Sugraone green seedless harvest, which started July 7, was cranking up. The harvest of Black Beauty black seedless grapes was also under way.

“Everything is progressing well,” Mr. Harley said. “We have probably some of the best Sugraones that we have had in many years,” and the quality of the flames is similar with “no defects, good color, good size and good quantity.”

The good quality of the grapes “enhances the sales. You get a lot of repeat business,” he said.

“I look for this to be a good year,” he added.

By the end of July or August 1, the company expected to be going in the San Joaquin Valley with Red Globes, Scarlet Royal red seedless and Sweet Scarlet. By mid-August, Autumn Royals would kick in, and about that time “we’ll be finishing up on Sugraones, and we will be finishing up on flames,” he said.

Princess and Thompsons will provide a mid-season bridge between Sugraones and the late season Luiscos and Autumn Kings.

Anthony Vineyards has grape ranches in various locations “scattered all throughout the southern San Joaquin Valley,” Mr. Harley said. There are about 2,000 acres “just right here,” adjacent to the cooler.

With new plantings coming into production and the company’s volume increasing, Anthony Vineyards last year expanded its cooling facility, adding two storage rooms as well as a refrigerated area for house packing.

“We do a lot of clamshell packing, and we do, in our organic category, a lot of bi-colored and multiple-colored packs,” Mr. Harley said in a previous interview.

The facility expansion included a room designed “specifically for that” with temperature controls that allow product to be packed without breaking refrigeration.

The cold storage expansion covers about 22,000 to 25,000 square feet of space, resulting in a 15 to 20 percent increase overall, according to Mr. Harley.