Having established an excellent reputation for its calibre of both table and wine grapes with well-known and much-loved names, in recent years the Chilean grape sector has been turning its attention to developing its very own marketable portfolio.
At the one of the country’s most prominent research centres, La Platina, the horticultural branch of the agricultural investigation institute (Inia), breeding programmes have been underway since 1998. The institution began generating its own breeds in 2001, and after four years, it has identified two new varieties which are ready for commercial release.
The first varietal addition, Illusion, is a cross between red Flame and green Perlette. It is 30-70 per cent seeded, with a large berry size of 18-22 millimetres. According to Nicole Hewstone, a specialist in vine improvement and co-researcher on the grape projects, Illusion is very fruity with a moscatel flavour. In addition, the fact that it has a post-harvest period of in excess of 25 days makes it ideal for exporting to Europe.
“Illusion is a very early variety,” says Hewstone. “Historically, Perlette was the earliest with the first fruit coming from the north in late October. Illusion is one week earlier but has much higher yields.”
While Perlette traditionally produces 2,500 boxes per hectare, Illusion can produce around 4,000 boxes from the same area. And, according to Hewstone, Illusion is easier to prune and handle than previous varieties.
Fifty plants of the variety have been planted in one orchard in each of the country’s growing regions to determine which climate is most suitable. “The fifth region - Valparaiso - has proven most successful so more plants will be planted in an orchard in a valley near the Andes,” says Hewstone. “The grapes from there can be exported directly from the port at Valparaiso which goes straight to Europe. This obviously has huge benefits in terms of transport.”
The second variety, named Isela, is a green seedless variety, produced from a cross between Flame seedless and Centennial. As yet, both new varieties have only been launched on the domestic market but Inia has plans to make them available for export both in fruit-form and as registered varieties for international production.
Inia started work in 2001 with 27 different grape selections, which were short-listed from thousands of initial possibilities. Of these, four were selected for further trials: Illusion, Isela and two other as yet unnamed varieties expected to be ready for release next year.
The first of these unnamed grapes is a red seedless variety formed from crosses between Ruby seedless and Centennial, which harvests during the middle of the season. Hewstone says it is a great-tasting sweet variety, which children are especially likely to enjoy. “It is very resistant to botrytis and would be very interesting for the organic market,” she explains. “It could be harvested from February until June or even July in some orchards but it is also very long-lasting so you could leave it hanging on the vine and it wouldn’t become dry.”
The last new variety is a seedless green variety, formed from a cross between red seedless and Dawn Seedless. Similar to Thomson Seedless, this variety has a large berry of 17-22mm. It also boasts a very long harvest period, able to sustain up to 60 days in storage at 0°C.
According to Hewstone, crosses with Ruby can be difficult to maintain because they are sensitive to the Giberellic Acid widely used to increase grape size. GA has caused a loss of berries in ruby crosses so Inia is still monitoring the optimum level of acid to use for the fourth variety.
Hewstone explains that the benefits of having Chilean-owned varieties are political as well as commercial. At the moment all of Chile’s grape exports are of varieties originating from California and growers have to pay $1 per plant for Sugraone and other new varieties. “If we have our own genetic material we can trade with the people in California and if royalties ever become restrictive we can always export our own varieties freely.”
While Hewstone has confidence in the potential of the four new varieties, she emphasises that there is no guarantee that they will be commercially successful so Platina will continue to try and introduce additional grapes. Moreover, it is not that they are searching for the holy grail of grape varieties, but rather as broad a spectrum as possible, she says.
“There is no ideal grape,” she explains. “It’s always beneficial for producers to be able to tell supermarkets that they have a full range. We have some excellent varieties already but they all have different seasons suitable for different climates so there are still gaps for certain kinds of grape at different times of the year.”
For instance, while Crimson is a popular red variety, it harvests late, so it would be beneficial to develop another earlier red variety. There is similarly a need for a late-harvesting green variety, Hewstone says.
Meanwhile producers have long been experiencing problems with red wines because of the harvest period being so late, in April - a time when Chile has a lot of rain which can cause fungal damage.
Inia has become involved in a grape research consortium with producers, investors, exporters and Asoex, the Chilean Exporters’ Association, as well as some universities in Chile and Cornell in the US, which should bring the benefit of international recognition. Meanwhile, the Chile Foundation for horticulture is involved in advising the sector about such things as branding and how to handle intellectual property concerning varieties. Hewstone says this venture has been very beneficial and claims all sectors should be working together in this way.
When it comes to generating new varieties, it is easy to be fairly prolific but there are good and bad points about both table grapes and wine grapes, according to Hewstone.
“We can make 3,000 new seeded plants a year,” she says. “It’s very easy to advance with seeded varieties and select something for new wines but it is also difficult to get a new variety because wineries are very sceptical and very traditional, while in table grapes it is not as easy to develop a new variety but much easier to introduce new varieties to the market because popular varieties of table grapes are always changing.”
Inia has also initiated projects looking at new varieties suitable for raisin production, since there is currently no grape dedicated to this market alone. In addition, research is underway into GM breeding of table grapes to find genes with resistance to botrytis and odium tuckeri. Given the widespread restrictions on GM research it is only being done for multiplying and research and not for normal fields. The US is the only other country currently partaking in this kind of study.
All in all, Chile’s future in the grape business is looking bright. “We have the feeling we are in a very good position,” Hewstone concludes. “In Italy labour is very expensive and they have the pressure of competition from North Africa. And last year Italy had a very bad season which meant they couldn’t harvest a lot of their production. Spain has a new breeding programme but no new varieties as of yet. And South Africa and Australia have problems with land, water and temperature which gives rise to soil restrictions.”
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