A new company enters the European market as a reliable supplier of seedless grapes

"Over 50 hectares of seedless white, red and black grapes of various degrees of ripeness allow us to ensure a steady supply to our customers for approximately 5 months of the year, from July to December. In the course of time, we have uprooted all the traditional varieties and replaced them with those that are most appreciated by the markets of Northern and Eastern Europe. Our customers are exclusively foreign: 60% are exported to Norway, Sweden and Denmark, the remaining to Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Slovakia."

These are the words of the young entrepreneur Francesco Durante (pictured above), owner of Agricola Marinella, based in Bernalda, in the province of Matera (region Basilicata, Italy).

"After graduating in economics, I decided to return to my region to continue the family business that had been in the family for decades. The opening of my own company, with a broader, innovative and modern vision, was not long in coming, thus absorbing the existing one. I was aware of the strong contribution that my family could make to ensure the launch and differentiation in the market. Things are going well on the commercial front. The warehouse, equipped with two processing lines of 30 units each and some cold rooms, allows us to process and ship grapes with extreme speed, also because of the proximity to the harvesting sites. Our sales channels are both those of the restaurant and large-scale retail trade. We offer our customers different types of packaging, both lidded and heat-sealed, depending on the preferred weight, which can range from smaller formats of 250 g and 500 g to 4.5 kg paper bags."

The entrepreneur estimates that the harvest will begin in the first ten days of July, thanks to favorable weather conditions that have brought forward the ripening of the grapes. "The vineyards are in excellent condition. We are not encountering any phytosanitary problems, as was the case last year. We are only confirming a generalized decrease of 10 to 30 percent, depending on the variety, which will not, however, significantly penalize the 2024 campaign."

The company is GlobalGAP/Grasp and IFS certified.