“It’s evening out quite a bit now, but on white grape we’ve still got May for instance, which is a difficult time, as is the end of November,” he says.
But its an issue the sector is tackling, says Sainsbury’s Theresa Huxley: “Grape supply has traditionally relied upon peaks and troughs of production, but there have been some significant changes both in production areas and growing techniques which have resulted in production expanding at those times when supply is traditionally limited, most notably in November and May.”
It is this issue the industry is now focusing on and Denny says the key aim is to remove the need to air freight during those periods. “No-one wants to rely on that. People are working with more sources, new varieties and new techniques to store fruit longer or bring harvests forward. Anything to try and even out the flow and reduce the need for air freight.
“We’re just about getting there, we’ve only had to air freight for two weeks out of the last 52, so the days of £5.99 retails are almost gone now.”
He says the aim is to ensure a flat, steady price for grapes throughout the year to avoid giving consumers a nasty shock at the checkout. “It’s much better for business, we don’t want highs and lows.”
Brazil is vital in helping to remove the problems in November, says Huxley: “Brazil is beginning to play a key role in November. The production of the variety Festival has continued to increase with greater volumes being spread to more markets including US, Europe and the UK.
“The most progressive growers are now adapting their techniques and successfully producing Thompson and Crimson, which will potentially support the end of the US, Greek, and early South African seasons.”
The problem in November arises with the end of the Greek season and until the start of the South African, suppliers are often forced to rely on US supply, which Denny says is too unreliable. “When we need to take fruit from the US, it’s much later in the season. They take their stronger fruit and store it, but it doesn’t store well past 60 days. There’s a two week window where the US is dependable, but after that it becomes marginal. We’ve had more disappointments than successes with US fruit.”
While Brazil is being lined up to bridge the gap in November, May is more tricky. Brazil is a solution for later in the year, but in May it is often the cause, says Denny. “We have an early season there, but two out of three seasons, you get problems with the climate. Early rains can hamper supply.”
At the moment, there’s no obvious solution, but Denny says the industry is starting to see a potential solution developing in the south of Egypt: “It’s starting to look very promising,” he says.
This production is being aided by improved growing techniques says Huxley: “There have been significant technical changes in growing techniques to speed the development of grapes.
“Some growers are investing in covering their crops to protect them from weather and also to deliver early production. The level of investment is large both in materials and the labour required to work it, but results in areas such as South Africa and Egypt have been considerable, with up to 10 days being shaved off commonly acknowledged growing times.”
She says the protection given to these crops is also having a positive effect on quality, with reduced wind rub on skin and reduced impact from rain and hails.
This is enabling production in new areas, she says: “Examples of this are Egyptian production spreading down the Nile, with new plantations in the Luxor and Aswan areas where previously temperatures would have been deemed too high, or in the south of Spain and new growing areas the length and breadth of Israel.”
Denny says new production areas are also opening up in already established grape producing regions, such as the Transvaal in South Africa and regions in central India.
Of course, while white grape might be affected during May and November, the problem periods coincide with the fact that it is a good time for red seedless, he says. “We have Chile producing crimson in May and Spain and the US producing good crimson in November. So there’s never going to be a period where we’re stuck with no grape at all.”
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