Murcia’s largest grape producer El Ciruelo has undergone a change of corporate identity and also has a couple of "new" products in its export portfolio this season.
The company has changed its logo and the design of its boxes and is looking to develop varieties that give it new windows of opportunity.
One such variety is Red Globe, which has been harvested for the last four weeks and will be available right through to December, according to commercial director Rupert Maude. “This is a big season for us with Red Globe; we will have around 3,000 tonnes and intend to give it a bit of razzamatazz in the marketplace,” he said. “The first part of the season sees the fruit that has been produced under plastic netting and so far we have had big berries, with a good consistent quality. It certainly looks and tastes the part. Red Globe will never be more than 5-10 per cent of our overall grape volume, but we do see potential for it in the UK.”
Another variety available this season, which is more than likely going to prove a one-off, is ‘seedless’ Victoria. The normally seeded variety is an anomaly in 2004, as the weather-affected fruit is more or less seedless - certainly to the extent that it can be marketed as such, says Maude. “The unsettled weather upset the plants’ mechanism,” he said. “This has led to the majority of the crop being seedless and while we have only around 400t of fruit, it is an interesting option for the market.”
The Crimson Seedless crop this year should be available from next week, but developments at El Ciruelo are designed to bring the harvest forward to mid-July. “We are very excited about this variety,” said Maude. “We could bring it forward by as much as 230 days with the use of plastic. The gap between the end of the Chilean season and the start of the Spanish hasn’t yet been plugged properly, but we are on the way to doing that. Our customers throughout Europe would prefer continuity and for us to extend the shoulders of the season wherever practical.”
No comments yet