Now that the very early ARRA varieties from the Northern Hemisphere have reached the supermarket shelves, we are glad to unveil the continuation of the 2021 season with the white mid-season ARRA 15 (ARRA Sweeties™) in Morocco. We then invite you to catch up on the most recent ARRA field days in Italy and Israel.
In our previous newsletter, we featured the opening of the harvest season with the early red ARRA 29 (ARRA Passion Fire™) and the early whites ARRA 30 (ARRA Sugar Drop™) and Early Sweet™, in both, Egypt and Morocco. We are glad to report good feedback received by the European market, where the fruit was well accepted by leading supermarket chains especially in the United Kingdom, where the demand for fresh grapes is high, especially since the closing of the season from the southern hemisphere.
ARRA Passion Fire™ exported by Societe Agricole Guiro, Morocco and mixed punnets of ARRA Sugar Drop™ and ARRA Passion Fire were exported by Agrostar, Egypt.
ARRA Passion Fire exported by Les Vergers du Soleil and EHM, Morocco
Elite Harvest Maroc (EHM)
ARRA Sweeties™
EHM began their harvest, in Marrakech, for ARRA 15 (ARRA Sweeties) in the end of June. The harvest will continue up until July 14th according to Khalifa Smari, Production and Farm Manager at EHM. Khalifa reports: “This is a very special year for us. We achieved great quality with all the ARRA varieties, leaving our clients very satisfied. We shipped the fruit to Germany, France and UK to leading supermarkets”.
ARRA Field Day
Sicily Italy
AVI, our exclusive territorial representative for the ARRA™ varieties and for Early Sweet™ in Europe and the ARRA sub-licensee Barbera International organized an ARRA Open Field Day in Sicily, southern Italy. This Italian Island has the advantage of an early microclimate, which gives the opportunity to harvest the ARRA varieties produced here before those produced in mainland Italy, thus opening the European season of early ARRA varieties in Sicily.
The over 100 participants had the chance to see and taste the excellent quality of ARRA Sugar Drop™ (ARRA 30). During the day, the participants were accompanied by Agronomists Maurizio Simone and Marco Tempesta from AVI, along with Alessandro Barbera, CEO of Barbera International and the agronomist of the company, Mario Martello.
The day started with a visit to the field of ARRA 30 of Azienda Agricola Giuseppe di Stefano producer of Barbera International while the second visit was in the field of Terre Assolate farm, owned by Salvatore Novello. After the tour in the vineyards, all the participants spent the afternoon attending a seminar that took place in Villa Orchidea, Comiso (Ragusa).
The whole ARRA varieties series have been available in Italy for years and continue to attract the attention of markets but the focus during this field day has been ARRA 30, a variety that proved to be extremely successful in Italy.
ARRA 30 (ARRA Sugar Drop) is an early white seedless grape with first-rate eating quality. The attractive elongated berries have a well-balanced sweetness housed beneath crisp and crunchy skin. Notable for its light-creamy coloration this variety holds up well on the vine. Needless to say, ARRA 30 is particularly loved by the European market and of course, it is the shining ARRA star in Italy.
During the seminar, Maurizio and Marco presented the vision behind the ARRA breeding program and focused on the most important aspects of irrigation as well as the importance of selecting and shortening the bunches at approx. 15/18 cm in order to obtain the best out of this variety. As emphasized by Carlo Lingua, AVI CEO, the main focus is not about quantity but about achieving the highest quality. Carlo was interviewed over the phone by Fresh Plaza and you can read the full article here.
On July 1st, Grapa Varieties held an ARRA field day in Moshav Lachish, southern Israel focusing on three varieties: ARRA Passion Fire (ARRA 29), ARRA Sugar Drop, (ARRA 30), ARRA Honey Pop™ (ARRA 33). Many growers from all over Israel participated in the ARRA field day that provided a great opportunity to see and taste the varieties.
The producers in Israel are satisfied by the results obtained and they particularly appreciate the early selections that allow the supply of fresh grapes in the market.
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