Luciën and Luuk de Wit of LuBa Fresh visited their grape suppliers in Puglia last week. "The most striking thing is that the season has been brought forward by several weeks. All varieties arrive a lot earlier. For example, with us the Autumn Crisp varieties that we normally start in September arrive as early as next week," says the importer.
The early start is a result of the warm winter, in which it has not been colder than 19 degrees Celsius. "Normally it will result in the Italian season also ending two to three weeks earlier, but of course anything can still happen," says the importer. "Sales are going well and, despite the holiday period, we are selling a lot of grapes."
He is positively surprised by the quality. "In general, the grapes just look very good. There is some drop-out of lots that have browning due to the heat, but those lots remain on the domestic market," Lucien says. "However, climate is a hot topic among Italian growers. When we were there last week, it was 43 degrees and they started picking at 4am to keep the heat out of the grapes."
"Many of our customers are enamored of the grape varieties with pith, such as Victoria, Red Globe and Palieri, but in addition, seedless grape varieties are booming in Italy. With us, the ratio is now fifty-fifty. New varieties are added every year, in that sense there is plenty of innovation in Italy, even with varieties that taste like strawberries or candyfloss."
For more information:
Luciën de Wit
LuBa Fresh
Tel: 077-777 7715
Mob: 06-41273443
Fax: 077-777 7725
[email protected]
www.LuBaFresh.com