South America is still shipping table grapes to the United States. At the same time, the state of Jalisco in Mexico is in full production and the state of Sonora as well as the Coachella Valley in California are knocking on the door. "With supply from so many regions, there is no room for mediocre fruit," says Carlos Bon with Divine Flavor. "Consumers have been spoiled with high-quality and high-flavor fruit. As a result, the bar has been raised, in particular when it comes to green seedless grapes like Autumncrisp®. For red seedless grapes, the story is a bit different as the only red seedless grapes available in the market currently are grapes from South America. "Mexico is late on reds and no significant volumes are expected until Memorial Day. However, demand for red grapes is steady and volumes from Chile should be sufficient to cover demand until the last week of May."
May availability
Bon is expecting a smooth transition from South America to Mexico as good volumes should be available soon. During the month of May, Divine Flavor works with their retail customers on promotions for their high-quality green grapes from Jalisco, an earlier growing region in Mexico. Red grapes on the other hand, are expected to be abundant in June. "In terms of quality, May used to be the worst month for us as it was late into Chile's season and Sonora, Mexico was just starting up. However, since we've started growing grapes in Jalisco, May has become one of the best months for us in terms of quality," commented Bon. "It was always very stressful not to have high-quality grapes in May, but thanks to our partners who built the Jalisco program with us, we now offer a solution for the May dip. My life will be extended by six to seven years thanks to Jalisco," he said.
Left: Sweet Globe variety. Right: Carlos Bon.
Sonora starts this week
Jalisco's grape harvest is about 80 percent done and overall, it has been a great season. "However, it has been challenging for our Cotton Candy variety." Chile shipped large volumes of Cotton Candy this season and inventory of lower quality grapes has built up on the East Coast. "This has really hurt us in Jalisco where we focus on tree-ripe packs with a high brix level."
From Jalisco, the season will smoothly transition to Sonora. Harvest of organic green and red grapes out of Sonora starts this week. Organic grapes are purposely pruned earlier with the goal to enter the market first as their supply is relatively limited this time of year. "In Jalisco, we grow conventional grapes only and since we can't grow organic grapes there, we push the envelope on organics in Sonora. With a market share of 66 percent in organic grapes in Mexico, we are the earliest grower to start and the latest to finish." All organic grapes grown for Divine Flavor in Sonora are contracted, which takes the speculation away. "It's about building a long-term program with our customers," Bon said.
Left: Maritza Moreno of Grupo Alta is picking Prime Seedless grapes. Right: Autumncrisp variety in clamshell.
Sugraone down significantly
In general, the outlook for the Sonora grape season is favorable. Although the state has experienced some cool weather recently, it doesn't seem to have affected production volume and quality. "I was worried about Flame Seedless, but they are looking good and so do the early greens. Sugraones are the only variety that will witness a significant reduction in volume." Production is expected to be 50 percent down from last year due to bad spring weather. "It will be a disastrous season for Sugraone with the variety being practically non-existent," Bon shared. Timpsons and Sweet Globes will serve as a replacement but despite Sugraone's absence, the expectation is for green grapes to have consistent volumes from the beginning of the Mexican season until the end. For red grapes from Sonora, the crop expectation is lower than usual and so is demand. "There is a shift taking place in consumption from red to green varieties. Although there are some great red grapes in the market, they aren't mind-blowing compared to a green variety like Autumncrisp that is truly extraordinary."
Sweet Globe grapes.
For more information:
Michael DuPuis
Divine Flavor
Tel: +1 (520) 281-8328
[email protected]
www.divineflavor.com