At the end of July, the Brucculeri family from Sicily started selling biodynamic grapes again.
Dario Brucculeri on a plot with grapes of the Italia variety in protective bags
"The crop has so far had to cope with the intense heat of the past few weeks, but the yield does not seem to have suffered much, also thanks to the careful management of water resources. All varieties show good size and it looks like we will be able to harvest good quantities of all varieties", said Dario Brucculeri.
Centennial grape (seedless)
"Our marketing season has recently started with the varieties Pink Muskat and Centennial. Shortly, the Luisa variety will follow and then all the other varieties, Italia, Red Globe, Regal, Apulia and Crimson. The seedless varieties are mainly sold in Central and Northern Europe, while the Italia and Red Globe varieties are doing particularly well on the French market."
Pink Muskat grape (seedless)
"Our experience has taught us that there is an increasing demand for seedless fruit, even though the market for grapes with pips is still holding up well. All our crops are Demeter-certified. As early as 1989, we stopped using chemical fertilizers and pesticides, in 1992 we obtained the organic certification and in 1997 we obtained the biodynamic certification. Our company usually packs the bunches in protective bags. When we decided to stop using chemical products, we studied the possibility of physical protection together with some agronomists from ESA. Today, we still use this method, even if it has quite a high impact on production costs," continued the grower.
Beehives
"The organic market is growing steadily, and we are looking for partners to market our product in Italy as well, especially in the early grape segment, where competition from Spain, Egypt and Greece is strong. In contrast, we have no problems in selling late grapes. Of course, our competitors benefit from lower labor costs, but they have the disadvantage that they are further away from the destination markets," explained the entrepreneur.
View of the cultivation site
" With regard to packaging, we are witnessing two trends. While specialty shops are trying to reduce the package weight, supermarkets are increasingly turning to trays made of different materials," concluded Brucculeri.
The Brucculeri family also runs a holiday home
For the production waste, the Sicilian company wants to build a processing laboratory in 2022.
For more information:
Azienda Agricola Brucculeri
C/da Pernice - Naro (AG)
+39 348 2268105
dariobuc@gmail.com