This week we are diving into the Mediterranean, bringing you news from the opening of the ARRA™ Varieties season in Greece and the ongoing harvest in Italy.
The season is off to a very promising start for ARRA Sweeties™ and ARRA Passion Glow™ in Greece.
The ARRA Sweeties harvest kicked off a few days ago in the northen region of Kavala, Greece. The strong and healthy ARRA Sweeties vines produced, in general, large, firm, beautiful bunches. With a berry size of around 20-24 mm, the elongated cylinder-shaped berries are crisp and firm with an impressive eating quality, excellent sugar-acid balance and impressive shelf life. ARRA Sweeties are indeed set for a successful season ahead.
Directly from Kavala, Greece, Andre Vermaak, Grapa Global Tech Support, presents ARRA Sweeties just before harvest
Only a couple of weeks away from harvest, the ARRA Passion Glow™ crop, in Kavala, boasts a uniform berry size with a lovely pink-red hue. The harvest will continue until approximately the first week of October. These seedless table grapes have a long-lasting ruby red coloration with an average size of around 20mm once ready to harvest.
Another variety, soon to be harvested in Greece, is the late black ARRA Mystic Dream™. The Greek growers are forecasting the start of the harvest in approximately 10 days, with the season ending during the first week of November.
The large and firm berries are extremely juicy and have an excellent balance of sweetness and flavor with a Brix level of 18+.
We wish all ARRA Licensees in Greece best of luck with the harvest!
The ARRA Sugar Drop™ harvest season in Italy was a great success spanning from the month of June, in the region of Sicily and continued through the Italian summer in the region of Puglia. This variety has been widely available and appreciated in the European supermarkets for the past 3 months and as the harvest is now coming to an end we bring you news on the last crop of the season.
GIACOVELLI s.r.l.
Located in Ginosa, in the Taranto area of Puglia, Southern Italy, Giacovelli s.r.l. company are reaping the fruits of their labor in the ARRA vineyards with a great ARRA Sugar Drop crop. The beautiful bunches, sweet taste and crunchiness make ARRA Sugar Drop hard to compete with.
The bunches are attractive with elongated berries and a well-balanced sweetness with an exceptional crunchy texture. Notable for their light-creamy color, ARRA Sugar Drop holds up incredibly on the vine, it is perfect for mass production and is a great solution for an early white variety.
Anna Giacovelli, Business Development Manager at Giacovelli s.r.l reports: “ARRA Sugar Drop is an excellent variety. Its flavor and crispiness are top-notch. Even more so its harvest time does not overlap with other varieties which benefits us greatly. This is indeed a premium variety”.
AZIENDA AGRICOLA LEONARDO NANNA
As can be seen in the photographs below, Azienda Agricola Leonardo Nanna, located in the region of Puglia, in the province of Bari, Southern Italy, has produced a beautiful crop of ARRA Sweeties this season; the berries are crunchy and sweet and the bunches uniform.
This mid-season variety with its great vigor and fertility, makes it possible to achieve a very good bunch size and high yield per hectare.
Despite the challenging weather conditions during the month of August, with hailstorms in the south of the country, the ARRA™ Varieties mostly managed to withstand these harsh climate changes. The results obtained were satisfactory especially under these circumstances and the growers are happy with the final product.
Leonardo Nanna, owner of Azienda Agricola Leonardo Nanna reports: “Despite a very difficult season, both from an agronomic point of view and due to the unfavorable climate, in my company the ARRA varieties stood out for their quality, allowing me to still obtain an excellent income”.
Leonardo concludes: “The early ARRA Passion Star™ and ARRA Sugar Drop™ opened the harvest season in a big way, giving me great satisfaction. Soon we will start with the harvest of ARRA Sweeties™, synonymous with quantity but above all quality”.
AZIENDA AGRICOLA VITO TERRANA
Vito Terrana farm was established in 1999 as a family-run business in Campobello di Licata in the Agrigento province in the Island of Sicily. In 2015 Vito Terrana began a cooperation with AVI planting the two mid-late varieties ARRA Sweeties™ and ARRA Passion Glow™.
The attractive color, size and bunch quality of the ARRA Passion Glow was achieved at Terrana Vito Farm by the Terrana family’s close adherence to the growing and production protocols.
On this special day…
In 1990 Shachar Karniel, fourth-generation farmer, took his father’s wine grape breeding to the next level and began cross-breeding table grapes.
Shachar’s passion for grapes, his pursuit of perfection and his unique creations, paved the way for his worldwide recognition as a table grape breeding expert.
Today is Shachar’s birthday and our wish for him is to continue pursuing his passion for grapes, his zest for life and endless thirst for novelty and creation. Happy birthday to you, from all of us at Grapa
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