Gonzalo Matamala of Gesex on Table Grape Varietals

Proprietary table grapes will play an increasingly important role in the global industry, according to the assessment of Gonzalo Matamala, General Manger for the China office of Chilean producer Gesex, who delivered a live presentation to Produce Report readers on September 2.

“New varieties are becomingly more and more popular among growers, exporters, importers and wholesalers,” said Matamala.  “People on the streets have also became aware of the different kinds of grapes, moving from one variety to another, because of factors like color, flavor, seeds and size of the bunch.”

He continued, “In our experience, the consumers—or regular people—who buy the grapes in the stores, are moving more and more from seeded grapes towards seedless varieties. The reason for this trend is that many companies and technicians have developed crunchier, bigger, longer-lasting and sweeter seedless varieties.”

Based on this vision of the future of the industry, Gesex has join an international breeding program and is working with partners around the world to develop new seedless table grape varieties. With 15 cultivars under evaluation at its production base in Chile, it hopes to be ready to commercialize and export new varieties China and other countries within three years. The company also grows commercial quantities of varieties from other breeders such as SNFL Group, SunWorld and Grapa Breeders.

Fielding questions from Chinese growers looking to license varietals, he advised them to approach breeders expecting to build a long-term and transparent relationship and see themselves as part of a team with other producers, carefully selecting a a grape suited to the local land and climate, that will ripen at the correct time to ensure a long season and stable supply of a particular varietal coming from different producers.

Breeders want, “the growers and companies that can handle the variety in the best way possible, because at the end you are the owner, or part owner of this grape, so you want that, not only you, but also all the other growers, behave the same way with this variety.”

Note: The charts below, also part of Mr Matamala’s presentation, show the current breakdown of Chile’s table grape production by type and by varietal within each type. All information comes via ASOEX with elaboration by Gesex

Chilean Red Grapes by Variety

Chilean White Grapes by Variety

Chilean Black Grapes by Variety