ARRA 15 in Greece

Technical Visit to Greece: ARRA 15

Kavala is the largest table grape growing region in northern Greece, distinguished by an optimal climate where vine cultivation is ideal for the late harvest.

In early June, Grapa and Jupiter team; John Ferguson, Procurement Manager, Dimitris Theodorou, Regional Procurement Manager and Disri Nieuwoudt, Technical Manager, visited the ARRA growers in the Kavala region and were very impressed with the young vineyards and with the high standard of work carried out.
When the ancient tradition of grape growing meets the innovative ARRA varieties, the results are high performance of first year vineyards.

Alfa Vita

Due to the high density planting and the low height trellising structure, the plants that were planted in tubes in May 2017, have in thirteen months mostly reached commercial quality. Growers are seeking to replace the veteran Thompson Seedless with the ultimate replacement – ARRA 15.

ARRA 15 growers
ARRA 15: No Gibb applied and good implementation of bunch count and bunch tipping
ARRA 15: No Gibb applied and good implementation of bunch count and bunch tipping

ARRA 28: The expectations at Alfa Vita from ARRA 28 are very high. As a very late, red variety with large berry size and great, sweet eating quality, the growers are putting much attention and care into the vines.

Simvolo

We were accompanied by Simvolo General Manager, Mr. Nikolaos Mavridis. The vineyards are taken care of very professionally and growers, who are used to local practices and traditions, are following to the letter the instructions of Disri Nieuwoudt, Jupiter’s Technical Manager.
Simvolo growers level wide terraces in order to plant new ARRA vineyards in virgin soil.
Before bunch trimming and de-leafing.
After bunch trimming and de-leafing.
ARRA 15 grows in an upright trellising system with a large open top.
ARRA 32 shows its impressive fertility and bunch size, even in one year old vines. The bunch count and trimming has been done very precisely.

International Fruit

Georgios Katsagiotis, General Manager of International Fruit is very proud of his vineyard. He grows the vines in a very precise way and pays a lot of attention to Disri’s instructions and advice. We are looking forward to a great future with International Fruit.

ARRA 15 is grown in a tunnel with a closed top.
ARRA 15 is grown in a tunnel with a closed top.

We would like to thank the Jupiter team for their time and great organizational skills that went into making our visit such a success. 

Don’t miss out on these other newsletters: