Start of Italian grape season

Today, Staay Food Group starts the first supply of grapes from Puglia in southern Italy. The first breed is the Black Magic. Buyer Sander Rutten himself went on a work related visit to grape growers in southern Italy last week. He visited the four growers who grow grapes for the Staay house brand NERO Premium. All of them modern family-run businesses that continuously adapt their product range to market demand.

Development of new varieties and crops

Some growers are also part of an Italian consortium of grape growers and developers where new varieties are jointly developed. Knowledge they gather worldwide in the Americas, Peru, Chile and South Africa. Thus, a wealth of information regarding cultivation and varieties is collected. This year, they have the dark seedless varieties Maula and Dauna in production for the first time.

A clear trend is to grow fewer Italia and Victoria in favour of more seedless grapes. Red Globe and Crimson remain popular. So-called club varieties like IFG45, ASDA and various ARRA varieties were also more common.

New: NERO Premium Zero Residue

Part of the plantations are set aside for ZERO RECIDU grapes. Insects are controlled with insects and the entire crop is shielded. It is expected that demand for these will increase in the coming years.

Overall expectation of the growers is that more grapes can be harvested in this season compared to last year. The quality of the grapes is also promising. Staay Food Group gets new arrivals 3-4x a week in 5 kg, 4.5 kg and 4×1 kg NERO Premium packs. In programmes, punnets of 10×500 g or 10×1 kg are also possible.

Besides NERO Premium grapes, Staay Food Group is also supplying Didonna’s quality grapes again this year. They grow a wide range of grapes for Staay Food Group under the Didonna and Supreme brands, packaged in 7 kg wood, 5 kg carton and EPS. Again, small packs of 500 grams or 1 kg are possible on request.

Until mid-November, Staay Food Group has Italian grapes in its assortment.