In spite of the Covid pandemic and its resulting restrictions, the season in Egypt has got off to a good start and this week we are very excited to report on the ARRA™ and Early Sweet™ harvests of a selection of our Egyptian licensees.
Blue Nile have been exporting produce to Europe for over twenty five years, with a major focus on the UK market. During this time, Blue Nile have gained a reputation for reliability, consistency and above all, quality and safety. This season, the Blue Nile team have produced crops which show the ARRA varieties at their best.
This early white seedless variety is very fertile, has an excellent eating quality and holds up well on the vine and in cold storage.
The colour in the picture below isn’t photoshopped :), this is the colour of ARRA Passion Fire at its best, reflecting the sweetness and crunchiness of the variety. ARRA Passion Fire is an early variety with great eating quality and shelf life.
This variety, well known for its very high fertility, is the earliest commercial, seedless, white variety worldwide.
Agrostar’s great reputation is built on years of hard work and the vast knowledge of Mr. Mokhles Harraz, the owner and founder of this unique, top quality, table grapes production company. Their desire to learn and constantly improve upon the quality of their selected varieties is the flagship of the company.
The colour in the picture below isn’t photoshopped :), this is the colour of ARRA Passion Fire at its best, reflecting the sweetness and crunchiness of the variety. ARRA Passion Fire is an early variety with great eating quality and shelf life.
Agrostar owner and NFC member (ARRA agency in Egypt), Mokhles Harraz, describes their first-year production of ARRA Passion Fire, “The average berry size is 22-24mm, with some berries reaching 25mm. The colour is very good with just one week to go before harvest. Press play to see Agrostar’s Passion Fire vineyard.
This season, Nasmo’s three-year-old ARRA Sugar Drop vineyard has produced one of its best crops. There is no doubt that the technical team have adapted the right growing practice to produce such great quality.
Regardless of the current pandemic, Technogreen succeeded in producing high quality harvests this season. Technogreen’s Farm Manager, Eng. Mostafa Hassan explains, “This season we achieved high quality in spite of the pandemic, and by the workers applying the recommended preventative safety measures we were able to overcome the dangers of infection from the Coronavirus during the harvest. The only problem we faced this season was the lack of daily workers due to the lockdown that was enforced during the Eid.”
A very early, black variety harvested at the same time as Early Sweet. A sweet and tasty variety that the Egyptian growers produce and harvest as a complementary black variety to Early Sweet.
Eng. Fayez’s vast experience has produced a great crop of ARRA Passion Fire showing both excellent yield and quality. It appears that the Egyptian ARRA growers have reached the right growing practice, producing premium ARRA Passion Fire.
The team at Pico are happy with this season’s Early Sweet harvest. As Pico Quality Manager, Eng. Mohamed Ashraf reports, “In general, the acceleration of Brix this season was very good and took place at a normal rate without the need for any special applications. In addition, the weather helped a lot with the brix and also with the sizing, all sizes were in line with the quality requirements of the U.K.”
Pico was one of the first growers in Egypt to plant the Early Sweet with great success thanks to their technical team, who improved and modified the growing protocol to a level of quality and productivity, ensuring that the prestige of the variety will be maintained for many years to come.
FATA is owned by Mr. Hamdy Fayed who is also the Managing Director. All of FATA’s ARRA varieties are sold in high-end British supermarkets, including Marks & Spencers. Hamdy, as a member of NFC, is proud to represent the best of the ARRA varieties’ quality to the UK market and we appreciate the exceptional quality and culture practices employed on FATA farms.
Hamdy says of ARRA Passion Fire, “It has a good eating quality, especially when the Brix is over 17, then it becomes crunchy and the colour gets richer.”
Planted worldwide due to its adaptability to differing climates. this variety is very fertile, has an exceptional eating quality, great shipping performance and long shelf life. Hamdy reports, “The ARRA Sweeties is a beautiful, white, seedless grape which easily replaces Thompson. It is crunchy and sweet and this may be the reason to name it Sweeties!”
FATA’s ARRA Sweeties vineyard
It took Hamdy a while to adapt the right growing protocol for the ARRA 24 which responds totally differently in the Egyptian environment compared to the Californian practice and to educate the Egyptian ARRA growers to succeed commercially in growing the ARRA 24.
Magrabi farms are well known for their top quality grape production. They are the largest Early Sweet producers in Egypt and continue to plant and develop the variety by all means.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank the growers for their continued support of the ARRA and Early Sweet programmes in Egypt and for kindly sharing with us the pictures and material for the newsletter.
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This variety has large, elongated, intense cherry-coloured berries. With excellent sugar-acid balance, cherry flavour and sensational crunch, ARD 36 CHERRY CRUSH™ is a variety that delights in appearance, taste and eating experience. Proven to be fully rain resistant, the variety also has excellent fertility and exceptional storage ability. It is the ultimate long shipping variety with the best shelf life in the industry. CHERRY CRUSH™ has it all!
Discover the ultimate red variety with ARD 35 – FIRE CRUNCH™. This early-mid variety boasts a unique fire-red colour and crunchy, large berries with a low acid level and well-balanced taste that provide a supreme eating quality. It’s a fertile and easy-to-grow variety with full uniform colour that stays red on the vine, and doesn’t get dark over time, making harvest timing very flexible. This variety also withstands rain and offers unparalleled hanging ability, cold storage capability and shelf-life capacity.
This early red seedless variety offers an exceptional eating quality. It has large, crunchy berries, a medium sized bunch and boasts an excellent natural, full, deep red colour. Although it ripens at the same time as Flame, ARRA Passion Fire surpasses its early counterpart in all other parameters. Good productivity, extraordinary hanging ability, shipping durability and shelf life make it a choice early red.
This very early red variety with its large, sweet berries, ripens naturally 10 days before Flame. The striking full red colour, together with extreme crunch and harmonious flavour make this red a must-have variety. Fire Kiss has proven to be very fertile and grower friendly, as well as bearing great post-harvest and shipping qualities.