It's a good moment for Sicilian table grapes. In the Canicattì area (AG), the season started with early varieties in early June and, more specifically, with the Victoria variety, a cultivar whose seed dates back to 1962 and named after its creator Lepadatu Victoria, a researcher from the Pietroasele Research Institute in Romania. Another early variety is Black Magic, of Moldavian origin and introduced to Italy in 1986.
"Standards are very high this year: bunches are large, homogeneous and with no spots except for the natural ones typical of organic produce. There are no diseases, Brix levels range between 14 and 16 and volumes are in line with last year," says Francesco Petralito, administrator of Bioplus.
Francesco Petralito.
Bioplus produces and commercializes red, black and white seeded and seedless grapes.
"Prices and consumption are currently in line with the seasonal average. As usual, quotations are higher at the start of the season, and then they stabilize as the campaign continues and with the arrival of other varieties. We are currently busy with the Victoria and Black Magic varieties, while the Italia grapes season will liven up in August and continue into the late period, when Red Globe will also become available. We will harvest grapes until November, even though the end of the campaign always depends on the weather. Especially during the central part of the campaign, we will deal with red, black and white varieties either seedless or with soft seeds."
Victoria.
"Our production does not remain on the national territory, as all of the produce is exported. The most part (around 65%) is destined to France, while the remaining volumes go to Germany, the Netherlands and Poland (10 thousand tons in total). The main cause is the fact that organic produce still finds it difficult to do well in Italy, if we compare our domestic consumption with other European countries. After all, the quality required abroad is high, and we are capable of meeting the best standards. Seeded grapes are mainly sent to France, while Germany and the Netherlands (and all of the other northern countries) almost entirely require seedless grapes. Precisely for this reason, our objective over the next five years is to convert our production almost entirely to seedless varieties."
Black Magic.
Organic produce requires consistency
"We only grow organic produce, therefore we have tried to reduce the use of plastic as much as possible. We use cardboard crates for the loose produce, plus paper bags or cardboard punnets with a minimum part of PLA at most - notoriously obtained from corn, beetroot, sugarcane and other natural and renewable materials not derived from petroleum."
Passion fruit
"A company must always welcome new challenges and find new exalting opportunities. This year we have in fact introduced passion fruit and, specifically, red maracuja, grown using biodynamic techniques. The first harvesting operations will go from July to October, and then between December and April."
For more information:
Bioplus Srl
Viale Regina Margherita, 169
92024 Canicattì – Italy
+39 331 950 7789
[email protected]
bioplus.srl