Sunlight introduces new proprietary Green Emerald seedless grape variety for fall
Sunlight introduces new proprietary Green Emerald seedless grape variety for fall
For the late summer and fall season this year, Sunlight International Sales Inc in Delano, CA, is introducing a new proprietary green seedless grape variety called Green Emerald. “We received a patent” on the variety in December 2013, said Nick Dulcich, a partner in J.P. Dulcich & Sons in Delano, CA, and president of Sunlight International Sales Inc., exclusive sales agent for Dulcich & Sons.
Packing Green Emerald grapes in a San Joaquin Valley vineyard. (Photo courtesy of Sunlight International Sales Inc.)“We are excited about this big new delicious green grape,” Dulcich said. It is “very large in size and has great flavor and shelf life.”
The company has planted “a good number” of acres of Green Emerald on its early ranches in the Maricopa area of southern Kern County and also in the Delano area, he said.
The variety is either mid-season or late-season, depending on where it is planted, Dulcich said Aug. 6. “In Maricopa it will start about Aug. 11,” whereas in Delano it will start around the 1st of September. “I have enough fruit that it will take me almost to the middle of November,” he said, adding that the variety has “great storability.”
The company has also planted a new red seedless variety that Dulcich opted not to identify at this point. It is a very late season variety with great taste that he believes will compete successfully with Crimsons in the late season.
The new red variety “will take me into November and December” and on into the late months of winter, Dulcich said.
Also in its fall program, Sunlight has “a lot of Scarlet Royals that will take us all the way through Thanksgiving” as well as Crimsons, Vintage, Autumn Royals and Autumn Kings and Red Globes for the late season. “We’ve got over a million boxes of Autumn King to go into the fall deal,” he said.
“I’ve got a new field of Vintage coming in this year,” Dulcich added.
The company recently undertook “a major expansion” in the Maricopa area, “but I am actually bigger in the north,” he said. “With the range of late-season varieties the company offers, “we are the perfect fall house for grapes.”
