Awe Sum Organics, the largest importer of organic apples and organic kiwifruit in North America, has kicked-off the second season of its exclusive organic Peruvian grape programme.
The first organic green seedless Sugraones arrived in mid-November, with the group calling quality reports 'outstanding'.
These grapes have been in development since early 2007 when David Posner, founder and CEO of Awe Sum Organics, dreamed of creating an organic grape programme in the winter months to compliment the domestic grape season.
Posner and his team are very excited to see the second harvest season of this Awe Sum project begin: “The bunches of our organic Sugraones have a nice shape with large berries and are incredibly sweet, crisp and flavourful,” he said.
With the vines in their second year of production, Awe Sum Organics expects to see a larger crop this season. Nick Moless, programme manager for Awe Sum Organics, said: “The greater supply will be welcomed, and allow us to reach more customers with this amazing product; however, demand is still projected to well outpace supply.”
Awe Sum Organics plans to start shipping organic Red Crimson Seedless grapes by mid-December. The harvest was underway in Peru two weeks ago when Posner travelled to the vineyard to see the fruit in the field, the current harvest, and the fruit being packed in the new state-of-the art packing facility.
“Our Crimson Seedless have a beautiful color and also great flavour, with a smaller berry size than our Sugraones,” said Posner. The total volume of the Crimsons will be much more limited than the Sugraones, and the crop will have a shorter window.
The organic grape programme will finish with organic seeded Red Globes, which start after the seedless varieties end, around the first of the year. The Red Globes will boast the largest berry size of all three varieties, as well as exceptional colour and eating quality.
“Some customers expressed concern about their ability to sell organic seeded grapes,” stated Moless, “and many started by trying out a small volume. What they found was their customers bought them in similar volumes as the seedless varieties.”
