This year, the company Cancel Fruits started the Chasselas harvest on the 31st of August. “It is the date noted by the PDO and respected by all marketers. Indeed, we used to start the campaign earlier, around the 20th of August, as soon as the first grapes were ripe. However, since last year, we’ve started harvesting later in order to guarantee a homogeneous quality and a better taste right from the start,” explains Maxime Gil of Cancel Fruits.
A decent quality, with slightly inferior sugar levels
Just like the other stone fruits this year, the lack of sun and abundance of rain this summer were not favorable for obtaining grapes with high Brix levels. “The quality is quite good, but the sugar levels are lower than usual. Additionally, the harvest takes place a bit later. At the beginning, we were not ready to grow PDO Chasselas grapes. We had to postpone the campaign slightly. The quality will be there of course because we will select the best to meet the PDO specifications, but the volumes from greater skimming and additional sorting will naturally be impacted.”
Volumes down by 30%
This year, the weather constraints caused volumes to drop by 30% compared to a typical year. “Usually, we sell about 2,000 tons of grapes, all varieties combined. This year, we should obtain about 1,400 tons.”
A production loss that could nevertheless be compensated by high prices. “Prices are higher than usual, which is good news for the rest of the season, although they would need to be slightly higher to compensate fully for the losses. We hope they will increase by the end of the season as it would allow producers and commercial structures to have a decent year despite the lower volumes. It is therefore important that our clients promote French products in order to help us maintain high prices.”
300 tons of Chasselas de Moissac labeled Bee Friendly
As for the other references of its range, Cancel Fruits produces and markets its Chasselas de Moissac grapes grown on approximately 30 hectares. This year, the company decided to go further in its commitment to agroecology by getting the Bee Friendly label for its own production. “We are also motivated by a desire to meet the demand of some of our clients. This year and for the first time, we will then have 300 tons of Chasselas de Moissac with the Bee Friendly label. This certification leads to a number of adaptations to our crop itinerary. For example, we no longer use insecticides when pollinators are present. We have formed partnerships with local beekeepers in order to warn them when our treatments could be harmful to the pollinators. We have replaced some of the phytosanitary products with more natural products that are not on the Bee Friendly's blacklist of products to be avoided. A list which is quite complete, as it even includes some products authorized for organic farming. We also planted flowering fallows to favor biodiversity.”
Cancel Fruits will be present at Fruit Attraction (Booth 4C07).
For more information:
Maxime Gil
Cancel Fruits
1 rue de l'Occitanie - ZA Barres
82100 Castelsarrasin
Phone: 05 63 04 82 13
Fax: 05 63 04 55 49