Better varieties continue to drive stronger fresh grape sales in US grocery stores.

Record grape volumes from Peru, combined with strong volumes with Chile, should mean plenty of grapes shipping to US grocery stores through March, said Bill Poulos, executive director of grapes and stone fruit for Oppy.

“Hopefully it won’t be an oversupplied market,” he said. “There will plenty of grapes through March.”

South American grapes will begin to be replaced by Mexican product in May, which appears to be set up for a normally sized crop, Poulos said. Mexico is the dominant producer until early July, when California production will begin ramping up. Oppy imports grapes from eight countries total.

After years of fairly stagnant retail grape markets, Nielsen numbers have begun to show higher sales figures, Poulos said.

A big reason: better varieties.

“New or premium varieties are probably over 80% of our portfolio on imports,” Poulos said. “And green varieties are definitely dominating over red at retail.”

That’s in contrast to foodservice, he said, where red are still preferred. At retail, the bigger, crunchier, better-tasting green varieties are taking command. They also produce bigger yields for growers.

“Some retailers, basically the last couple years, have upped their specs on what they’ll take. And on size, for example, the traditional varieties can’t make it. Retailers want a 14 or 16 with higher brix. It takes a better grape now to sell at retail.”

Some of the newer varieties are so good, retailers are asking to have them called out at point-of-sale. One way to do that is by merchandising grapes in clamshells, where the variety name can be listed on-pack, Poulos said.

For that and other reasons, clamshells sales of grapes continue to grow for Oppy.

“During Covid, clamshells seemed more secure,” Poulos said. “Bags that were just sitting there, not sealed, you didn’t know if anyone had been eating out of them. Clamshells are more secure and make it more of a premium product. It’s also an opportunity to call our a new or special variety.”

Also growing for Oppy are sales of cotton candy grapes, which Poulos says “bring back childhood memories” for US shoppers who enjoyed cotton candy when they went to the fair or another outdoor warm-weather activity.

The company is also enjoying strong sales of its Ocean Spray-branded clamshells, though some areas of the country definitely sell more of those products than others.

“It’s definitely specific pockets of the country, like New England, where Ocean Spray cranberries are harvested,” Poulos said. By contrast, “nobody in Mississippi” is asking for them.