Continuing our look at the harvests in the southern hemisphere, this week we visit the ARRA 29 harvest taking place at Precision Vineyards, situated in Merbein, Australia.
ARRA 29 – From Vine to Table
(ARRA Passion Fire™)
January 2019 marks not only the start of a New Year but also an exciting time for Fruit Master Australia.
Nick Mammone of Precision Vineyards started to harvest his first ARRA 29. This fruit will be used to showcase the variety to the Australian retailers and also used for demonstration, storage and comparison trials by Fruit Master, Australia.
Nick has only fifty 18 month-old vines that he and Fruit Master agronomist, Alysson Barbosa Vieira, have nurtured and cared for to allow for a hand full of boxes for this year’s viewing. The vines and fruit have endured a typical Australian spring and summer with 40+°C days and up to 55mm of rain and as the photographs show, the fruit is outstanding without any plastic or shade cover. Nick was exceptionally happy with the variety given the age of the vines and the light canopy he had to work with. Nick stated that when compared to Flame Seedless the ARRA 29 was a clear winner. ‘We didn’t apply Ethephon and the fruit coloured very well, the berry size was 22mm plus and I experienced no shatter’ stated Nick.
The ARRA 29 harvest, picked from the vine approximately the same time as Flame Seedless, had good fertility and no cracking after 55 mm of rain and Precision Vineyards are looking forward to their first commercial crop of ARRA 29 next season.
Ready to Eat
Our grateful thanks to Alysson, the entire Fruit Master team and to Nick Mammone for their great work and expertise in supporting the ARRA programme in Australia.
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