The first several weeks of the 2012 grape harvest in California's San Joaquin Valley went about as perfectly as one could wish in many regards, with excellent quality, exceptionally good movement and reasonable returns, according to growers and marketers.

The season was also running considerably earlier on most varieties than it had for the two previous years, but some growers feel that an extended stretch of hot weather that began around the first of August could delay some of the later varieties.

However, Autumn Royal grapes in a San Joaquin Valley vineyard. (Photo by Rand Green)most people in the industry The Produce News talked to said they did not expect the heat to have an adverse effect on fruit quality or condition as long as the vineyards had good canopies and proper irrigation and other cultural practices have been applied.

"The quality of the grapes this year has been outstanding," Jared Lane, vice president of sales and marketing for Los Angeles-based Stevco Inc., said Aug. 6. "All the varieties have been very, very, very good quality. Production has been a little bit above normal in volume. Movement has been very, very good on both greens and reds."

Demand has been outstanding both domestically and in export markets, he said.

Going into the fall grape program, "I am expecting the volume harvested to stay above normal," Mr. Lane said. "We need demand to stay high and movement to stay high, because I expect this year will be the year we finally hit 100 million" or more boxes of grapes, industrywide, in California.

Everything has been going so unbelievably well in the grape deal this year that, as of Aug. 7, Nick Dulcich, a partner in J.P. Dulcich & Sons and president of Sunlight International Sales Inc., in Delano, CA, said it was almost "spooky."

To date, fruit quality and condition have been excellent, "so we have been able to harvest quickly," he said. "Fruit comes in from the field very fast and also seems to be leaving very fast. It is a pick, pack and ship kind of year with a lot of repeat business."

Quality is good, size is good, and it is "good-eating fruit," he said. And there is "incredible demand" on the fruit. "The spooky part of it is we just seem to be selling out constantly" and are unable to build up any inventories, a highly unusual situation for the time of year.

Prices are "moderate," he said, "and customers are buying and repeat buying. Everybody is moving fruit. Sales are great. Things are awesome. You look around and wonder what's going on. Everybody is doing what they are supposed to do, so it's spooky."

"Thus far, I think the quality has been outstanding this year," said Brian Crettol, Jasmine Vineyards in Delano. "Industrywide, everything I have seen looks very nice." There have not been "any of the mildew problems we had last year."

"We are very happy with the quality of the fruit that we have seen" and movement has been "very good," Shaun Ricks, president of The Grape Guys in Cutler, CA, said Aug. 8. "The demand for the product, I think, ties back to the quality of it. The retailers have done a good job of promoting. We are hoping that that is because the grape has served them well, that it has been a good retail item. It would appear that way, because the demand has been very good these first weeks of the season."

With regard to the effect of heat on the grapes, Mr. Ricks said, "We have known for several days that the heat was coming, so we got to a point where we were able to come out of the fields [with the harvest crews], put the water in, and try to put [the vines] to sleep for the next few days. I am pretty comfortable with it. We have heat every year. It doesn't feel to me like anything to be afraid of. We'll keep an eye on it. We'll be looking closely at the fruit when we pick it. But as of this minute, I don't see it as a big concern."

"The season is progressing nicely," Louie Galvan, a partner in Fruit Royale Inc. in Delano, said Aug. 7. "The heat that we are expecting this weekend is going to slow things down a little bit, which is fine. We are almost moving through the varieties a little too fast."

The crop is "looking as good as it has ever looked, and the demand is there," he said.

"Overall movement on grapes has been good this year, I think because the quality is so much better than last year," said Atomic Torosian, an owner of Crown Jewels Produce Co. in Fresno, CA. "The fruit is larger, the fruit is sweeter, and it has less issues in it."

Even in August, which is "traditionally slower," demand "seems to be very good," said Keith Andrew, sales manager at Columbine vineyards in Delano.

"Everything seems to be progressing well. The market is good. There is good demand." The eating quality of the fruit "has been excellent," John Harley, sales manager at Anthony Vineyards in Bakersfield, CA, said Aug. 8. The company has received "some real positive feedback" from customers and consumers regarding the grapes shipped thus far. "It could be a vintage year" on some varieties, he said.

The effect of heat on the crop "remains to be seen," Mr. Harley said. But "we don't anticipate much" adverse effect, because there is "a lot of growth" in the vineyards and 'we are preparing for it."