Tholen - This month, Fresh Plaza’s monthly theme will be grapes from the Southern Hemisphere. Both South African and South American producers, traders and exporters will tell their stories. They, as well as several European importers, will be giving their expectations of this season.

The past few weeks, there have been plenty South African and South American grapes on the markets. The first ones arrived in Europe at the end of November and came from South America and two to three weeks ago the first South African grapes followed. Both parts of the world are busy harvesting, packaging and exporting their grapes.

The South African season is generally marked by it late start. Last winter, growing conditions were excellent, which means fine quality fruit. The low temperatures and rains in spring, however, slowed down production somewhat. During the past few weeks, there have been some rumours about hail completely destroying vineyards in South Africa. Contrastingly, importers say that the damage is only very aerially determined and that procentually, it is not as bad as has been claimed.

The South African grape season is not the only one that is behind schedule. The Chilean season was also delayed. The season started the second week of November and this means a gap of one to two weeks compared to normal years. Still, the fruit’s quality is fine and a normal harvest is expected. In Chile, too, there has been some hail, but insiders claim it did not cause any significant damage.