Focus on Peru
ARRA agent in South America, Karl Conrads reports that the current season appears to be on time, with normal climatic conditions and an estimated harvest time; starting first week of November.
Due to the increased technical experience of the growers and maturity of the vines, we are expecting to offer the markets 1.4 million of 8.2 kg boxes of ARRA grapes.
Agricola Ispana
Agricola Ispana took a big step ahead and improved their quality greatly this year.
ARRA 29: This variety looks really good at this stage; following the Grapasa team’s protocol and guidance clearly shows the first steps for success.
ARRA 13: The Agricola Ispana team have much experience with growing the ARRA 13 successfully. At this stage, the bunches and berries are uniform and large and it appears that in the final stage the berries will be very large.
ARRA 15: Traditionally, Agicola Ispana produces great ARRA 15 and this year the bunches and berries at this stage look very promising.
Manuelita San Jose Farm
As an Ica grower who has the advantage of earliness, the early ARRA varieties play a major roll in Manuelita’s portfolio.
The newly added variety ARRA 30 shows a great start. Tipping the young grape vine bunches is a must and the farm team is doing an excellent job with this new variety.
Agricola 3P
As expected, this variety produced great, crunchy berries and yield, even with no PGR application. The growers let the grape bunches hang on the vines for almost two months for better maturity and sweetness. In some growers’ fields, the colour was darker than usual due to high potassium levels. Harvested in October, the ARRA 19 showed perfect freshness and vitality in spite of the rain.
Proagro
Grown for the first time in Kavala, although this grape variety ripened slightly earlier than expected as it wasn’t treated with PGR, we were delighted with its clean, sweet grapes, incredible bunch shape and berry size.
Danper Agricola Olmos
The grape bunches were kept on the vine until the end of October. In spite of the young vine age of seventeen months, this variety had great flavour and freshness. The Kavala microclimate enhanced the colour beyond our expectations and most of the crop was unharmed by the rains.
Agricola La Venta
At this stage, the ARRA 15 is looking good. Karl is working with the team in order to insure the crop yield will be in accordance with Grapasa’s specifications.
Agricola La Venta
Thanks to Javier Cilloniz’s enthusiasm to commercially test ARRA varieties and codes, the 8A-19+4 ‘Jumbo’ will produce its first crop in Peru this year and we eagerly await the results.
ARRA 32: Our eyes turned to Javier’s trial to grow ARRA 32 in Chiclao, although it is a late variety.
Ecocultivo
Carlos Abusada is doing his best this year to follow Grapasa’s protocol and Karl’s guidance and it looks like Carlos will be rewarded for his efforts.
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