In this edition, we continue our reporting on the current season in the northern hemisphere and this week we feature the harvests in Morocco and Mexico. In addition, don’t miss the dates for the virtual ARRA field days.
Next year will be the first year of commercialization of the ARRA varieties at Delassus. At present, the ARRA Sugar Drop™ and ARRA Passion Fire™ are still under evaluation in their trial blocks. Mohamed Nafide, Director of Production at Delassus reports, “Looking at ARRA varieties, the results on the test blocks are encouraging and the new plantation of ARRA Passion Fire is going well in Taroudant and Marrakech.”
The second year of production is the challenging year when the grower is loading the vines in order to keep the balance between high production and high quality. As can be seen in the picture below, there is no doubt that Miloud succeeded very well in keeping the balance and to produce outstanding quality ARRA 15.
Les Vergers du Soleil’s ARRA Sugar Drop can easily be marked as showing the characteristics of this variety at their best in terms of quantity, quality and berry shape. There is no doubt that Rafe Shabaily, Managing Director of Les Vergers du Soleil, brought out the best in ARRA Sugar Drop.
Videxport is the largest Mexican exporter of the Giumarra companies with excellent relationships between the Giumarra and Corsaro families for many years. Videxport’s Director of Production, Victor Romero has improved the grapes’ quality with hard work and perseverance and has brought the varieties to perfection.
Victor describes the ARRA 30 as follows, “Synonymous of high yields and best eating grape in the world.”
Victor says of this beautiful variety, “The size and the incredible colour, together with the flavour, make it unique.”
Pablo Borquez, President of Campos Borquez, summarizes the season so far, ” We have already finished our Early Sweet harvest where we produced over 400,000 boxes (18lbs) all exported to the United States, with excellent results. We have already started the harvest of ARRA 30 and ARRA 29, so far so good.”
Ripening early, with compact bunches and uniform berry size, Campos Borquez’s ARRA Passion Fire achieved a stunning, shining, red colour which easily beat the colour of Flame Seedless.
Over the last few years, the Campos Borquez technical team has produced great commercial Early Sweet crops that are superior to Perlette and have succeeded to establish the variety as the best early white grape coming out of Mexico.
We are delighted to share with you the dates of the virtual ARRA field days which will take place as follows:
Early virtual field days – 29-30 July
Main virtual field days – 31 August, 1st September
For more information, please contact: info@grapaes.com
Don’t miss out on these other newsletters:
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.