Bridge Pā Table Grape Harvest Starts Weeks Early

The team has mobilised, from harvesters to packers, with the retail team preparing to be at the Hawke’s Bay Farmers’ Market for two Sundays from March 8, after two Saturdays with the early picks at the Black Barn Growers’ Market in February.

Grapes will be shipped to New Zealand’s main centres, and to Japan, China and the USA. In Hawke’s Bay they will be starring at several of Hawke’s Bay’s premium restaurants..

The harvest of premium eating grapes comes as Hawke’s Bay wine grape growers also report an earlier-than-usual vintage this season. Greencollar’s harvest is running up to a month earlier than last year. With fewer than 40 hectares of eating grapes in commercial production nationally, the 20-hectare Maraekakaho planting is one of the largest in New Zealand.

After a year of meticulous pruning, thinning and nurturing, the work of an entire season will be completed in just weeks. Each bunch must be picked at precisely the right point for flavour, texture and appearance, and shipped immediately.

Chief executive Shin Koizumi says the compressed season heightens both the pressure and the reward. “We spend all year preparing for this moment. Every decision - pruning, thinning, protecting the fruit - leads to these few weeks. It is intense, but it is also the most rewarding time of the year.”

Unlike wine grapes, which are harvested for juice, eating grapes must meet exacting standards for presentation as well as taste. “We are focused on the whole presentation: taste, flavour, balance and look – everything needs to be perfect.”