In this week’s edition; we report on some outstanding selections from the most recent ARRA™ Virtual Field Days and bring you updates on the ARRA harvests in Mexico and Algeria.
Last week, Grapa held the Mid and Late ARRA Varieties webinars, consisting of six sessions held in English, French, Spanish, Italian, Greek and Portuguese. We presented the commercial and semi-commercial plantations of Giumarra Vineyards as well as the latest developments and innovations of the mid to late selections from the ARRA breeding site in Bakersfield, CA.
Grapa’s Commercial Director, Nomi Karniel, says of the webinars, “Although it was the second round of the ARRA virtual tours, it felt very strange not to have the opportunity to meet face to face and to share the experience of seeing and tasting the varieties together in the field as we used to do in the ‘good old days’ before Covid-19. On the other hand, the ‘new normal’ presented the opportunity for hundreds of people, who otherwise would not have had the opportunity to be physically present at the field days, to attend the virtual ARRA field days (without the added delights of jeg-lag and 40°C heat!).”
It is our pleasure to share here with our readers two of the most promising ARRA selections that were presented in the webinars:
This is a unique, mid-season selection, where sweetness, crunchiness and striking colour meet to create a truly exceptional experience.
This eye-catching selection has been under evaluation for four years and from an agrotechnical standpoint, it is as close to perfection as you can get. As for the marketing aspect, the Giumarra sales management team didn’t hold back on their compliments for the eating quality and appearance of this selection. Giumarra Vice President of Marketing, Mimi Corsaro, remarks, “I love the unique colour because it’s a beautiful cherry red, almost like the ‘Bing’ cherry variety red colour and it’s really uniform. I think it will be a great variety.” Trial consignments have been sent to the local markets and we are looking forward to the results.
When thinking about a white Muscat table grape, immediately the senses become sharpened in anticipation of something special and this ARRA selection meets all expectations, delivering a unique combination of Jasmine aroma and Muscat flavour.
Grown in a semi-commercial block in Giumarra vineyards, what strikes us most about this strong ARRA selection is that because of the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting lack of employees, not much work was done in the block and yet in spite of this, the results were amazing; a beautiful, unspoiled crop with no scarring, browning or physical defects. The Muscat flavour increases as the sugar level rises and we have noticed during the three years of evaluation, that the grapes maintain their shiny appearance throughout storage and shipping and arrive to their destination without cracking or shattering.
ARRA varieties’ breeder, Shachar Karniel, says of the ARRA Muscat programme, “There is a widespread assumption that white Muscat varieties are sensitive to browning. The reason for this assumption is that most of the white Muscats do indeed have this sensitivity. We at the ARRA Muscat programme have created a unique breeding technique to develop non-browning Muscat varieties, that are free of rub marks and have great shelf life and sweetness.”
Campos Borquez President, Pablo Borquez, remarks on the ARRA Passion Fire season as follows, “The ARRA Passion Fire continues to develop nicely in our farm. This year, the climate conditions did not favour colour, however, we saw significantly better colouring in ARRA Passion Fire compared to Flame.”
In Mexico, Videxport’s Director of Production, Victor Romero (pictured below), is delighted with this year’s crop, saying, “The 2020 season has been a blessed one for ARRA Sugar Drop. This is the best variety to continue with white grapes after Early Sweet. The crispness and the acid and sugar balance on this variety is hard to beat.”
Reporting on ARRA Passion Fire, Victor says, “This season, we harvested first, second and third year crops of this variety and it is very easy to see how it improves every year. The berry size and the colour are extraordinary for a red seedless grape in this area.
We are thrilled and delighted with Algerian ARRA grower and fruit producer, CATM’s excellent harvest of ARRA Sweeties™ (ARRA 15). As can be seen in the pictures below, the crop produced very large, clean berries.
Last week we lost one of our best partners and producers, Mr Francesco Alabrese, President of Cooperativa ANCEO Grottaglie Terre Ioniche. A great man who carried out an outstanding job in the development and diffusion of the ARRA varieties in Taranto area, Italy. Thanks to his future-oriented and precious vision, ARRA varieties made a great step forward in Italy. His energy was unique. Ciao Franco.
We would like to take this opportunity to wish good luck to all the ARRA growers in Greece whose harvests have started or will be getting underway over the coming weeks.
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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.