It has been difficult to select good quality grapes over the last few weeks. "Both Greece and Italy have good grapes, but the majority isn't good due to the weather over the last few weeks," says Lucien de Wit of PeDe. "Italy had two or three weeks of bad weather and cold weather in mid July, which caused damage at a lot of plantations. I hear from Italy that a lot of grapes are being offered to the industry, and will now just be used for wine, whereas they would usually come onto the fresh market."
Perla Nera , a late variety of blue grape, packaged in the home brand AROMA
"The prices of, for instance, the Italian grapes vary from 7 to 14 Euro. Due to the quality differences, the prices are very varied. Personally I believe the price for a very good quality is a bit lacking. The demand for good grapes is good," continues Lucien. "The result will be that the European grape season will be finished early. Last year there were still enough Italian grapes in the cells in January, but that won't happen this year. It will be almost done by the end of October / beginning of November."
La Pernice ITALIA grape, packaged in Longlife. PeDe is packaging the better grapes in the so-called longlife packaging at the moment.
This means there is a lot of space for the overseas grapes, you would think. "The Brazilian grapes are on the water and will arrive in Europe next week. The messages are that less is being sent to Europe due to the strong demand from the United States and South America. I'm going to South Africa in the Tranvaal area to view the grape cultivation. People are expecting to start the harvest at the end of this month. All in all both South Africa and Nambia will be on the market two weeks earlier," concludes the importer.