OUR Story
Our story begins in 1882 when our great-great-grandfather, who was a pioneer farmer, planted our family’s first vineyard. Overtime, his original farm transformed into a successful, local farming business of wine and table grapes. Two generations later, his grandson began to experiment with breeding wine grape varieties.
The turning point occurred in 1990 when fourth-generation farmer, Shachar Karniel, 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.
In 1993, Shachar was asked by Giumarra Vineyards Corporation (GVC), a leader in the Californian table grape industry, to join Giumarra as their leading table grape specialist.
In 1999, during his cooperation with GVC, Shachar and the Board of GVC became convinced of the global need for innovative table grape varieties. This conviction resulted in Shachar and GVC co-founding ARD (Agricultural Research and Development), a table grape breeding company with Shachar as the Head Breeder and Project Manager.
In the same year Grapa was founded as a platform to commercialize globally the unique breeding creation, the pioneering Early Sweet variety.
Today, Grapa Varieties is a leading global company that specializes in breeding and licensing timeless table grape varieties. In light of worldwide recognition and demand for the ARRA varieties, we continue to expand to new regions. Each year Shachar, at the Giumarra ARD breeding programme, is continuously developing new ARRA varieties.