This week we take you with us around the Mediterranean and we will take a stroll through the vineyards of ARRA 32 (ARRA Mystic Dream) of Italy, Greece, and Israel.
We hope you will enjoy the beautiful pictures and it would have been amazing to be able to also deliver the inebriating scent of this ARRA 32 via our Newsletter!
Italy
ARRA 32 (ARRA Mystic Dream), is a late black variety carrying large berries, excellent sweetness, and extraordinary juiciness along with gentle crisp-crunchy texture.
In Southern Italy in the Region of Puglia, ARRA 32 ripens in October and as the producer, Mr. Pavone, from Pavone Vineyards said: “This Variety is so fertile that towards the end of July I was almost worried of losing the vines due to the heavy load, so we trimmed the bunches. This is an important step because when the load is balanced the acid is homogeneous”.
Maurizio Simone, ARRA Agronomist, explains that in the fields of Pavone Vineyards no chemicals were used on ARRA 32, only Abomin for the soil and few applications of Abomin foliar.
ARRA 32 is a variety not subject to fast growth, but once the fruit is about to take its colour, this is to say when around 60%, the bunch continues to grow even when the berries already reached their full black colour.
Although the colour emerges uniform and fully black, the Brix appears to be still low on 12/13, therefore still too early to start harvesting considering that the optimal Brix level of ARRA 32 is reached at 18/19.
In Italy, in the region of Puglia, towards the end of September, the acidity of ARRA 32 begins to drop and the Brix to rise reaching a level of 15/16 Brix which, although being a good level of sugar, AVI Agronomists’ advice to the producers, is to wait for it to reach a minimum of 18 Brix in order to have the sugar at an optimal level. The higher Brix allows the consumer to enjoy the amazing scent of this ARRA 32 as well as to satisfy the market request for sweetness and juiciness.
With great productivity of 35 tons per hectare, we can not wait to see this “MADE IN ITALY ARRA 32” on the supermarket’s shelves!
Greece
ARRA Mystic Dream™
The harvest of ARRA 32 (ARRA Mystic Dream) in few earlier areas of Kavala northern Greece started during week 39 in plots where we see the first year of production.
The harvest will then continue up to week 44 / 45. Dimitri Theodorou, Senior Procurement Manager at Jupiter Group, comments on the season so far: “With a great yield, ARRA 32 from Greece presents excellent quality, large berries and it is crispier than ever. The nice and uniform colour makes it really attractive and it is by far the most successful ARRA variety in Greece.”
The positive characteristics of ARRA 32 most loved by the consumer, according to Georgios Bitsakos, Lead Source Development Manager at Tesco UK, are the berry size, the full colour and the fantastic flavor.
John Ferguson, New Variety Development Manager at Jupiter Group says: “We believe that the ARRA 32 we produce in Greece can really change the future for the export of Greek grapes. This variety of consistently high quality can open markets farther afield than Europe like, for example, the Middle East and the Far East”.
Israel
ARRA Mystic Dream™
Israeli ARRA producer as well as Chairman of Tali Grapes Agriculture Cooperative Asaf Arad shared with us these amazing pictures of ARRA 32 in its second year of production. Asaf reports that the market feedbacks so far are just positive and this is due to the impressing appearance, firmness and flavor of the variety.
“ARRA 32 is certainly a huge advantage for all producers as it is extremely fertile, I would almost dare to say too fertile!” Asaf said. “Even after removing some bunches and trimming some others, I still obtained a remarkable crop. Bunches are substantial and the berries are very big”, Asaf added.
ARRA 32 is with no doubt a very stable variety reaching a luscious colour naturally and has great resistance to cracks and decay.
A variety that definitely represents an opportunity for table grape producers, who want to take their share in the late black grape market.
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