For Stevco Inc., which is headquartered in Los Angeles and has branch offices in Nogales, AZ, and in Coachella and Bakersfield, CA, the grape harvest in California’s San Joaquin Valley will start in the Maricopa district, located southwest of Bakersfield at the southern end of the valley.

Keith Andrew, a salesman at Delano, CA-based Columbine Vineyards told The Produce News May 30 that it looks like the company “will be harvesting earlier than last year.”

The start of the grape season in the San Joaquin Valley is expected to come earlier this year than it did last year by at least week and a half for Sun World International LLC in Bakersfield, CA.

Pete Giotta, Brady Johnston, Christy Salazar, Sean Stockton and Michael Astorga of Sundale Sales Inc. (Photo courtesy of Sundale Sales Inc.)Sundale Sales Inc.

For Castle Rock Vineyards in Delano, CA, the early San Joaquin Valley grape deal starts with Flames, Sugraones and Summer Royals out of the Arvin area.

“That is the transition for us as we come out of Coachella,” where the company has a spring deal, said Jim Llano, sales manager.

Anthony Vineyards Inc., in Bakersfield, CA, will have a volume increase in several varieties of grapes this season in the San Joaquin Valley, according to John Harley, vice president of sales and marketing.

The increases will be in both conventional and organic grapes and will involve early varieties as well as some varieties of the latter part of the season.